Varicella outbreak in Sudanese refugees from Calais

O Lesens; O Baud; C Henquell; A Lhermet Nurse; J Beytout

doi:10.1093/jtm/taw042

Varicella outbreak in Sudanese refugees from Calais

J Travel Med. 2016 Jul 4;23(5). doi: 10.1093/jtm/taw042. Print 2016 May.

Authors

O Lesens^{1

2}, O Baud^{3

4}, C Henquell^{5

6}, A Lhermet Nurse¹, J Beytout¹

Affiliations

¹ Service Des Maladies Infectieuses Et Tropicales, CHU Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
² UMR CNRS 6023 Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome Environnement (LMGE), Clermont University, Université D'Auvergne, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
³ Service d'hygiène hospitalière, CHU Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
⁴ Antenne Régionale Auvergne de lutte contre les infections nosocomiales, CHU Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
⁵ Service de virologie, CHU Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
⁶ EA-4843 EPIE, Université d'Auvergne.

PMID: 27378366
DOI: 10.1093/jtm/taw042

Abstract

We describe an outbreak of varicella in 31 Sudanese refugees (all except one were male, mean age: 26 ± 1), from the Calais migrant camp and sheltered in a French transit area. The attack rate was 39%. Adults are scantly immunized against varicella zoster virus in East Africa and may be exposed to epidemics once in France.

Keywords: Varicella; chiken pox; outbreak; refugee; varicella Zoster Virus.

MeSH terms

Adult
Chickenpox / diagnosis
Chickenpox / epidemiology*
Chickenpox / prevention & control
Chickenpox Vaccine
Disease Outbreaks / statistics & numerical data*
Female
France
Humans
Male
Refugees*
Sudan
Young Adult

Substances

Chickenpox Vaccine