[Varicella vaccine]. / Vacina contra varicela.

The varicella vaccine developed by Takahashi and cols. in 1974, in Japan, shows outstanding features. Its development, site and route of administration and final results are reviewed in this article.The varicella vaccine is highly effective in normal children (with almost 100% seroconversion rate), and with good protective responses in immunocompromised children (82% to 90% seroconversion rate). This is the first attenuated live virus vaccine that may be recommended for these patients. Its indications and side effects, along with needed precautions and contraindications are reviewed. Simultaneous administration of varicella vaccine with other vaccines can be done, each vaccine should be injected at different sites. New studies are ongoing for the association of the varicella vaccine with others vaccines. Several countries licensed this vaccine for administration in selected high-risk individuals. Probably, in the future, the varicella vaccine will be included in the preventive immunization schedule.

[Varicella complications: study of 117 patients admitted to the Emílio Ribas Hospital]. / Complicações da varicela: estudo de 117 casos internados no Hospital Emílio Ribas.

Chickenpox, an exanthemic disease common in childhood, has a benign course in most of the cases. However, several complications may occur; among them we have: bacterial infection of the skin, pneumonia, meningoencephalitis, thrombocytopenia, renal failure and others. The present study aims to analyse the occurrence of these complications, and for this purpose, a retrospective survey of the cases admitted to the Hospital Emílio Ribas during the period of December 1986 through December 1987 was performed. During this period, 117 patients were admitted, 91 of them aged 15 years or less. Associated complications were detected in 103 patients. The most frequent ones were pneumonia (31.87%) and bacterial infection of the skin (28.75%). Among children, the most frequent complication was skin bacterial infection (44 cases); whereas among adults, pulmonary complications were the most frequent. Among neurologic complications, there was a case of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a very rarely occurrence in the literature. The lethality was high, and the pulmonary complications with septicemia were responsible the most part of them.

[Persistence of colonization time in patients infected by Salmonella]. / Estudo da persistência de colonização em pacientes infectados por Salmonella.

Salmonella is an important etiological agent of hospital infection in children, reaching endemic levels in some Brazilian states during the seventies and the eighties. We have prospectively studied twenty five children between four and one hundred eighty days old acutely infected with salmonella non typhi to determine the duration of carrier status and its clinical repercussion. After the diagnosis, the children were submitted monthly to clinical examination, and cultures were collected from skin, oropharynx, urine, stools, genitals, nostrils and auditive conduct. During the follow-up, eighteen (72%) children still had positive culture at four weeks after the diagnosis, ten (40%) at sixteen weeks, four (16%) at twenty weeks, and one (4%) at twenty four weeks. In eleven children, we performed biotype and antibiotic susceptibility study of the bacteria recovered at the diagnosis and during the follow-up. In every child the biotype of the bacteria recovered at the diagnosis and during the follow-up was the same. These data indicate that there is a persistent excretion of salmonella that can last for 24 weeks. Such bacterial elimination may be a dissemination source either to hospital or to home contacts. The use of specific antibiotics was effective for the clinical improvement of the patients during the acute disease, but it didn't avoid the carrier state.