Seroprevalence and social determinants of varicella in Turkey

Background: In Turkey, varicella vaccine was introduced into routine childhood immunization in 2013, with a single dose administered to children aged 12 months. However, there is limited information on the morbidity [incidence and seroprevalence], mortality and burden of disease of varicella in the overall Turkish population.

Aim: To determine varicella seroprevalence and its social determinants in Manisa Province, Turkey in children aged > 2 years before single-dose varicella vaccination was introduced in 2013.

Methods: The presence of anti varicella-zoster virus IgG antibodies was determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in serum samples collected from 1250 participants.

Results: The overall seroprevalence was 92.8% and the seroprevalence was > 90% among all age groups except 2–9 years [55.7%]. Seroprevalence was significantly associated with family size, annual per capita equivalent income, number of people per room and education level. After adjusting by age, only education level remained significantly associated with seroprevalence, reflecting the early age effect.

Conclusion: High seroprevalance depends on natural exposure to the infectious agent itself and is not associated with social determinants. High vaccine coverage should be maintained for effective varicella control and switching to a 2-dose schedule may also be considered to reduce the number and size of outbreaks in the Turkish population

Trace elements and oxidative stress in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Many trace elements have activator or inhibitor roles in the antioxidative defense systems in diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases [COPD]. In this study, we aimed to show the levels of trace elements with action in oxidative stress, and to show the levels of malondialdehyde [MDA] as a marker of oxidative stress, and the activity of paraoxonase [PON1] as an antioxidant in COPD and smokers. We included 25 patients with COPD, and 20 healthy non-smokers in the study. We selected them from the hospitalized patients at the Hospital of Dicle University, Turkey, between April 2003 and January 2004. The clinical condition of the patients was stable. The serum copper [Cu] and MDA concentrations in COPD patients were higher than the control group. There were no differences in zinc [Zn] concentration and Cu/Zn ratio between COPD patients and the control group. We found lower serum PON1 activities in COPD patients compared with the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in Zn concentration and Cu/Zn ratio between smokers and non-smokers in COPD. There were statistically signifi-cant differences in Cu, MDA concentrations and serum PON1 activities between smokers and non-smokers in COPD. We could suggest that trace elements such as Cu, oxidants and antioxidants such as MDA and PON1 have roles in oxidative stress, and in COPD