Increasing Incidence of Varicella Hospitalizations in United States Army and Navy Personnel: Are Today's Teenagers More Susceptible? Should Recruits Be Vaccinated?

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Abstract
Hospital records for 10 687 United States Army and Navy adult varicella (chickenpox) admissions were reviewed. Annual hospital admission rates for varicells increased more than fourfold in the active-duty army during 1980 to 1988 and more than 18-fold among active-duty navy enlisted personnel during 1975 to 1988. Fifty-seven percent of vanicella admissions occurred in the most junior military members, aged 17 to 20. More than half of the total vanicella admissions occurred in personnel with less than a year of military service. Multivariate analysis of the navy data confirmed increasing time-related trends of risk, suggesting a national temporal trend of increased vanicella susceptibility in US teenagers and young adults. Administering a safe and effective vanicella vaccine to army and navy recruits could prevent more than 7260 hospital-bed days during the first year of use.
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