Varicella vaccine after the vaccine was recommended in the US, the CDC reported as much as a 90% drop in chickenpox cases, a varicella-related hospital admission decline of 71% and a 97% drop in chickenpox deaths among those under 20. Vaccines are less effective among high-risk patients, as well as being more dangerous because they contain attenuated live virus. In a study performed on children with an impaired immune system, 30% had lost the antibody after five years, and 8% had already caught wild chickenpox in that five-year period. Herpes zoster (shingles) most often occurs in the elderly and is only rarely
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control The office of the Chief Scientist oversees the seven Disease Programmes, the Microbiology Coordination Section and the Scientific Advice Coordination Section. The Disease Programmes focus on specific disease groups: Two shared-resource units – Surveillance and Response Support, and Public Health Capacity and Communication – provide specialist expertise. The Information and Communication Technologies Unit provides infrastructure, application development and support. The Resource Management and Coordination Unit controls ECDC’s human and financial resources. ECDC publishes numerous scientific and technical reports covering various issues related to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. Comprehensive reports from key technical and scientific meetings are also