KARIMNAGAR: Members of Paediatric Academy of Telangana (PAT) discussed the recent increase in cases of chickenpox and its vaccination during a meeting in the city a few days back.
They review the situation as chickenpox cases rise in summer and launched a new generation varicella vaccine which more efficient and safe compared to existing chickenpox vaccines.
The new vaccine Nexipox is launched by one of the oldest groups in India’s pharmaceutical industry. It is the only vaccine in the world with added benefits of an ingredient called Trehalose, recommended by World Health Organisation. It can be administered from the age of 12 months to 65 years, the members said.
The members said that over 1,000 cases were reported in the past few weeks.
About 20 per cent of them have already been hospitalised. So, they opined that there is a need to shift to a more advanced varicilla vaccine as the existing vaccine can only be given to those patients aged 50.
Dr N. Ramachandra, president of the academy, said that people take chickenpox lightly, but in the last few weeks, he got a large number of cases of herpes. “It can be said that it is not only a chickenpox outbreak, but also incidence of herpes is going up from the recent past. Everybody must be careful as it is highly prevalent in summer,” he stated.
“There are multiple reasons for such an outbreak of the chickenpox. Shortage of varicella vaccine is one of the major concerns in India. Patients are getting
immunized with only one dose of vaccine due to lack of awareness. Similarly, issues such as seroprotection and seroconversion from the existing chickenpox vaccine have to be paid attention, he explained. Eom with information
Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease. It is caused by an initial infection with varicella zoster virus which spreads easily through coughs and sneezes of an infected person. It results in characteristic skin rash
that forms small, itchy blisters that eventually spread all over body. These symptoms affect social life and daily activities. The disease can also affect gut, lungs, eyes and even brain.
It also is responsible for herpes which is characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters involving in limited area, while some people develop nerve pain which may last for quite long time, a condition called post-herpetic neuralgia. In
those with poor immune function, the rash may occur widely. Besides skin lesion, the virus may affect eyes, liver, brain and other key organs.
Over 1,000 cases have been reported in the past few weeks. About 20 per cent of them have already been hospitalized Prevalence of this disease is high in summer
