Neonate Varicella. A rare condition with an incidence of 2 - 6 per 100 000 live births per year. If untreated a serious and lethal neonate illness can develop when born two days before or four days after maternal onset of symptoms. Treatment with acyclovir and varicella-zoster immuno globulin.Maternal varicella infection during pregnancy is rare, as over 90% of females in a population are immunocompetent having aquired chickenpox in history, less so in tropical countries. An infection during pregnancy is usually asymptomatic or can lead to neonate varicella zoster as seen here in the picture. The very rare and feared FVS, fetal varicella zoster syndrome is an intrauterine infection of the fetus with varicella and can occur from 8 to 20 gestational weeks. The incidence is about 1 %. Not all fetuses whose mothers contract varicella during pregnancy get infected. The transmission rate is reported to be 12 - 30 %. The treatment in pregnancy is by acyclovir and varicella-zoster immune globuline. Primary prevention can be achieved through vaccination and secondary prevention by giving varicella-zoster immune globulin after exposure.Source: Pubmed; 1. Mandelbrot; Fetal Varicella - diagnosis, management and outcome; Prenat. diagn. Vol. 32, 18 APR 2012 2. Cohen, Moschopoulos; Congenital Varicella Syndrome: the evidence for secondary prevention with varicella-zoster immune globulin; CMAJ 2011 FEB 22; 183 (3):349 3. Kritsana Kongthavonsakul, Charles Henry Washington; Learning from errors, A 12-day-old male newborn with extensive vesicles and fever; BMJ case reports; 2012; doi:10.1136/bcr.11.2011.5211
