Seroepidemiology of varicella-zoster virus infection in Catalonia (Spain).Rationale for universal vaccination programmes

With the aim of designing a strategy for vaccination against varicella-zost er virus (VZV), the results of a seroepidemiological survey on VZV infectio n carried out in a sample of the population of Catalonia are presented. Rep resentative samples from schoolchildren (30 schools) and adults (97 municip al areas) were obtained by random cluster sampling. In the study, 883 child ren and 1253 adults were included. Age, gender, place of birth, place of re sidence, educational level and occupation were investigated in the study su bjects. An ELISA test was used to measure varicella antibodies. The prevale nce of varicella antibodies increased with age, being 85% in the 5-9 years age group, 92% in the 10-14 years age group, 94% in the 15-34 years age gro up and almost 100% in people over 35. No association was found between soci odemographic variables studied and prevalence levels of antibodies. These r esults suggest that the best vaccination strategy in Catalonia would be to add a temporary vaccination programme of pre-adolescents at 12 years to rou tine vaccination at 15 months. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.