Abstract
VZ antibody was measured from serum specimens of 27 newborns inadvertently exposed to a pediatric resident with active chicken pox. Ten infants had a gestational age of less than 28 weeks. Nine of these 10 infants had a protective antibody titer of ⩾1:8. All seventeen infants of > 28 weeks gestation had antibody titers greater than 1:8. Most of the infants of gestational age less than 28 weeks, including the infant with a titer of less than 1:4, had received blood transfusions prior to sampling.
All sick infants or those ⩽ 28 weeks gestation received ZIG. None of the babies subsequent to exposure developed varicella.
These results suggest that the current recommendations for the use of ZIG for exposed infants less than 28 weeks gestation require further study.
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Goldfarb, J., Spigland, I., Orafidiya, A. et al. VARICELLA ZOSTER (VZ) ANTIBODY TITERS IN NEWBORNS. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 275 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-01094
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-01094