Varicella Zoster Virus

Abstract

Varicella zoster virus causes two clinical syndromes. Chicken pox, or varicella, is a self-limiting disease of childhood characterized by a highly pruritic rash. Shingles, or herpes zoster, is a reactivation of the virus typically seen in adults. Heberden first distinguished these illness as separate entities in 1767 [1], and Osler emphasized the distinction in his book on clinical medicine [2]. Their relation was suggested by von Bokay in 1892 when he noted that children developed varicella after coming into contact with herpes zoster patients [3]. Weller et al. proved a common etiological agent [3 – 5], and Garland and Hope-Simpson were the first to propose a reactivation of latent varicella as the cause of herpes zoster [3]. In 1995, the FDA approved the first vaccine for the prevention of varicella, significantly changing the epidemiology of this disease [6].