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Low antibody avidity in elderly chickenpox patients
Author(s) -
Schoub Barry D.,
Blackburn Nigel K.,
Johnson Sylvia,
McAnerney Jo M.,
Miller Bennie
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.1890370207
Subject(s) - chickenpox , avidity , virology , antibody , immunology , varicella zoster virus , medicine , immunity , outbreak , virus , humoral immunity , cellular immunity , immune system
Abstract A small outbreak of chickenpox confirmed serologically in 3 elderly patients from a geriatric home is described. Disease was probably due to exogenous reinfection, yet nevertheless the avidity of specific antibodies measured by the urea denaturation test was even lower than in primary chickenpox controls, which themselves were, as expected, significantly lower than zoster controls. In elderly individuals susceptibility to reinfection with varicella‐zoster virus (VZV) with clinical manifestation such as chickenpox may well be associated with the decay of specific humoral immunity detectable by antibodies of particularly low avidity, in contrast to reactivation of latent VZV presenting clinically as zoster, which is related to deficiencies in specific cellular immunity. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.