Varicella Vaccination Guidelines

Primary Guideline Recommendations

The American Gastroenterological Association recommends that at diagnosis of IBD, unvaccinated adults and children should be screened by history of chickenpox for susceptibility to primary infection 1
The European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation suggests that if the history is uncertain or negative, or the patient grew up in a tropical or subtropical climate, they should be tested for varicella zoster virus IgG 1
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that HIV-infected persons who are susceptible to VZV should receive postexposure prophylaxis with VariZIG as soon as possible after exposure 3
The American College of Gastroenterology advises to avoid testing a sample which may contain VZV IgG obtained passively, for example by blood transfusion 1

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that in health-care institutions, serologic screening before vaccination of personnel who have a negative or uncertain history of varicella and who are unvaccinated is likely to be cost effective 2
The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America suggests that birth before 1980 is not considered evidence of immunity for healthcare personnel because of the possibility of nosocomial transmission to high-risk patients 2

The Infectious Diseases Society of America recommends that prevaccination screening for varicella is cost-effective when there is a seroprevalence of >30% in the patient population 3

The American College of Physicians recommends that immunocompromised patients should always be tested if history is uncertain or negative 1, 3
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that healthcare personnel should be tested all with negative or uncertain history 2
The American Academy of Family Physicians advises that general immunocompetent adults testing is cost-effective but not mandatory 3

The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases recommends that testing is essential before starting immunosuppressive therapy to allow time for vaccination completion at least 3 weeks before immunomodulators are started 1
The American College of Rheumatology suggests that subsequent immunization should only be administered 3-6 months following cessation of all immunosuppressive therapy 1