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Seroprevalence of antibodies against varicella zoster virus and rubella virus among newly recruited expatriate healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:To assess the state of immunity to varicella zoster virus (VZV) and rubella virus (RV) among newly recruited healthcare workers (HCWs) in Kuwait before they begin work, and to determine whether there are differences in the prevalence of seronegativity according to nationality, gender, age group and occupation group. SETTING:This cross-sectional study involved analysis of blood samples from workers newly recruited to the Kuwaiti healthcare system. PARTICIPANTS:All new non- national HCWs recruited during the study period (n=1540). INTERVENTION:Enzyme-linked immunoassays for VZV-specific and RV-specific IgG were performed. RESULTS:Among HCWs, 81.9% and 93.5% were immune to VZV and RV, respectively. Male seronegativity was higher than that of females for both viruses. Regarding VZV, the majority of seronegative individuals were Indians (23.5%), followed by Somalis (12.5), Filipinos (6.5) and Egyptians (5.4%); the between-group differences were significant for all groups. The age groups 20-30 and 30-40 years were most likely to be seronegative, with prevalences of 18.2% and 18.9%, respectively. VZV seronegativity was most common among nurses (21.1%) and least common among physicians (9.2%), and the difference was significant. In addition, RV seronegativity was most frequent among Somalis (12.5%) and lowest among Indians (5.3%); other nationalities (Egyptian, Filipino and others) ranged between 9.1% and 9.6%. Seronegative individuals were most frequently in the younger age group (<20 years old) (17.5%), followed by the >40 years old group (10.4%). RV seronegativity was highest among nurses (6.9%) and lowest among physicians (5.2%). CONCLUSION:The prevalence of seronegativity is highest among Indians for VZV and Somalis for RV, and HCWs aged 20-40 years for VZV and <20 years for RV. For both viruses, the seronegativity rate was highest for male HCWs, and for nurses compared with other HCWs, with physicians having the lowest prevalence of both viruses.

SUBMITTER: Shady I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5875672 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Seroprevalence of antibodies against varicella zoster virus and rubella virus among newly recruited expatriate healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study.

Shady Ibrahim I

BMJ open 20180322 3

<h4>Objectives</h4>To assess the state of immunity to varicella zoster virus (VZV) and rubella virus (RV) among newly recruited healthcare workers (HCWs) in Kuwait before they begin work, and to determine whether there are differences in the prevalence of seronegativity according to nationality, gender, age group and occupation group.<h4>Setting</h4>This cross-sectional study involved analysis of blood samples from workers newly recruited to the Kuwaiti healthcare system.<h4>Participants</h4>All ...[more]

PMID: 29567844

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Project description:Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a human herpesvirus, which during primary infection typically causes varicella (chicken pox) and establishes lifelong latency in sensory and autonomic ganglia. Later in life, the virus may reactivate to cause herpes zoster (HZ; also known as shingles). To prevent these diseases, a live-attenuated heterogeneous vaccine preparation, vOka, is used routinely in many countries worldwide. Recent studies of another alphaherpes virus, infectious laryngotracheitis virus, demonstrate that live-attenuated vaccine strains can recombine in vivo, creating virulent progeny. These findings raised concerns about using attenuated herpesvirus vaccines under conditions that favor recombination. To investigate whether VZV may undergo recombination, which is a prerequisite for VZV vaccination to create such conditions, we here analyzed 115 complete VZV genomes. Our results demonstrate that recombination occurs frequently for VZV. It thus seems that VZV is fully capable of recombination if given the opportunity, which may have important implications for continued VZV vaccination. Although no interclade vaccine wild-type recombinant strains were found, intraclade recombinants were frequently detected in clade 2, which harbors the vaccine strains, suggesting that the vaccine strains have already been involved in recombination events, either in vivo or in vitro during passages in cell culture. Finally, previous partial and complete genomic studies have described strains that do not cluster phylogenetically to any of the five established clades. The additional VZV strains sequenced here, in combination with those previously published, have enabled us to formally define a novel sixth VZV clade.Although genetic recombination has been demonstrated to frequently occur for other human alphaherpesviruses, herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, only a few ancient and isolated recent recombination events have hitherto been demonstrated for VZV. In the present study, we demonstrate that VZV also frequently undergoes genetic recombination, including strains belonging to the clade containing the vOKA strain.

Dataset Information

Seroprevalence of antibodies against varicella zoster virus and rubella virus among newly recruited expatriate healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study.

Publications

Seroprevalence of antibodies against varicella zoster virus and rubella virus among newly recruited expatriate healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study.

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