- 作者：Jaffar A. Al-Tawfiq ; Abbas AbuKhamsin ; Ziad A. Memish
- 关键词：Chickenpox ; Varicella ; Saudi Arabia ; Epidemiology ; Vaccination
- 刊名：Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
- 出版年：2013
- 出版时间：September-October, 2013
- 年：2013
- 卷：11
- 期：5
- 页码：310-314
- 全文大小：1154 K
Summary
Objective
This study examines the epidemiology of varicella infection and the impact of vaccination in a population in Eastern Saudi Arabia.Methods
All reported cases of varicella infection from 1994 to 2011 were analyzed.
Results
A total of 19,577 patients with varicella were reported during the study period, and 8869 were female and 10,248 were male, with a male to female ratio of 1.15:1. Most of the cases were reported in patients between one to four year of age (n?=?5625; 29.4 % ) and five to nine years of age (n?=?6614; 34.6 % ) years of age. The highest numbers of cases were reported in March-May corresponding to the spring time (39.3 % ) compared with 21.2 % in the winter and 25.4 % in the summer time. The childhood varicella vaccine was introduced in 1998 and was made mandatory in 2008. The total number of cases decreased from 10,070 in the pre-vaccination period to 1577 cases in the mandatory vaccination period. The incidence rate decreased from 739.8 in 1994 to 355.3 in 1998, to 88.1 in 2011 per 100,000 population (P?<?0.0001). Patients less than one year of age constituted 8.3 % of cases in 1994-1997 prior to vaccination, 5.4 % in 1998-2008 during the initial vaccination phase and 3.4 % during the mandatory vaccination period (P?<?0.0001).
Conclusion
The introduction of varicella vaccine resulted in a significant reduction in the incidence rates between 1994 and 2011.