Characteristics of chickenpox in children and adults at a tertiary health center in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Introduction: Chickenpox is very contagious childhood disease, which occurs due to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) primaryinfection. Disease in healthy children resolves usually without complications, but risk of complication is much higherin adults and immunocompromised hosts. The goal of this study was to determine different clinical and epidemiologicalcharacteristics, laboratory features, clinical course, and outcome of chickenpox in children and adults.Material and methods: The descriptive study was conducted at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Clinical Centerin Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The study included 120 patients chosen randomly. We compared their clinical andepidemiological characteristics, laboratory investigations, complications and the outcome of the disease.Results: Age of patients was in range from one to 48 years. Male patients prevailed in both groups (65% in adults,52% in children). Hospitalization rate was 10.7/100,000 inhabitants. Positive contact with chickenpox was confirmed in80% adults and 82% children. Dominating symptoms were fever, rash and muscle aches. Levels of C-reactive protein,erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR) and fibrinogen levels were elevated in both groups, while thrombocytopenia waspresented in 33% of adults and 3% of children. Adults had complications in 83.3% and their hospitalization rate waslonger compared to children (11.5 days vs. 9.5 days, p<0.001).Conclusions: Chickenpox is a potentially severe illness in adult patients. Introduction of active immunization in Bosnia-Herzegovina should be considered to prevent severe forms of chickenpox. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2012; 2(2): 64-67Key words: Chickenpox, complications, pneumonia