Search

Aim: Chickenpox is a viral infectious disease capable of causing severe morbidity, and even mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine the current position and demographic characteristics of cases of chickenpox following the addition of chickenpox vaccination to the routine vaccine schedule in Turkey. Mateial and Methods: Patients aged 0-17 years presented to Adiyaman University Training and Research Hospital Pediatrics clinics and diagnosed with chickenpox between January 2013 and December 2016 were included in the study. Data were analyzed on Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 22.0, Chicago, IL, USA) software. p<0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. Results: 314 patients diagnosed with chickenpox were included in the study. Mean age of the subjects included was 84.76 ± 41.67 months, and 54.1% were males and 46.9% females. A significant difference was observed between the groups in terms of age (p=0.001). Cases' ages decreased on a year-by-year basis. Fifty (15.9%) cases of chickenpox were identified as having been infected despite vaccine. A significant difference was determined between the mean ages of vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients with chickenpox. Conclusion: Although the addition of a single dose chickenpox vaccine to the national immunization schedule in Turkey reduces both severe complication and the incidence of the disease. In the light of our study we think that the addition of a second dose of chickenpox vaccination to our routine vaccine schedule will further reduce hospitalization numbers resulting from chickenpoxrelated complications. More comprehensive studies on the subject are now needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]