No Consistent Evidence of Decreased Exposure to Varicella-Zoster Virus Among Older Adults in Countries with Universal Varicella Vaccination.

Stephane Carryn, Brigitte Cheuvart, Michael Povey, Alemnew F Dagnew, Rafael Harpaz, Robbert van der Most, Giacomo Casabona

The Journal of infectious diseases 2022 Feb 01

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Universal varicella vaccination might reduce opportunities for varicella-zoster virus (VZV) exposure and protective immunological boosting, thus increasing herpes zoster incidence in latently infected adults. We assessed humoral and cell-mediated immunity (CMI), as markers of VZV exposure, in adults aged ≥50 years. We repurposed data from placebo recipients in a large multinational clinical trial (ZOE-50). Countries were clustered based on their varicella vaccination program characteristics, as having high, moderate, or low VZV circulation. Anti-VZV antibody geometric mean concentrations, median frequencies of VZV-specific CD4 T cells, and percentages of individuals with increases in VZV-specific CD4 T-cell frequencies were compared across countries and clusters. Sensitivity analyses using a variable number of time points and different thresholds were performed for CMI data. VZV-specific humoral immunity from 17 countries (12 high, 2 moderate, 3 low circulation) varied significantly between countries (P < .0001) but not by VZV circulation. No significant differences were identified in VZV-specific CMI between participants from 2 high versus 1 low circulation country. In 3/5 sensitivity analyses, increases in CMI were more frequent in high VZV circulation countries (.03 ≤ P < .05). We found no consistent evidence of reduced VZV exposure among older adults in countries with universal varicella vaccination. NCT01165177. © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Citation

Stephane Carryn, Brigitte Cheuvart, Michael Povey, Alemnew F Dagnew, Rafael Harpaz, Robbert van der Most, Giacomo Casabona. No Consistent Evidence of Decreased Exposure to Varicella-Zoster Virus Among Older Adults in Countries with Universal Varicella Vaccination. The Journal of infectious diseases. 2022 Feb 01;225(3):413-421