{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T21:15:22Z","timestamp":1790716522509,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Institute of Health","award":["R01 DK093094"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01 DK093094"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We encountered two cases of varicella occurring in newborn infants. Because the time between birth and the onset of the illness was much shorter than the varicella incubation period, the cases suggested that the infection was maternally acquired, despite the fact that neither mother experienced clinical zoster. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that VZV frequently reactivates asymptomatically in late pregnancy. The appearance of DNA-encoding VZV genes in saliva was used as an indicator of reactivation. Saliva was collected from 5 women in the first and 14 women in the third trimesters of pregnancy and analyzed at two different sites, at one using nested PCR and at the other using quantitative PCR (qPCR). No VZV DNA was detected at either site in the saliva of women during the first trimester; however, VZV DNA was detected in the majority of samples of saliva (11\/12 examined by nested PCR; 7\/10 examined by qPCR) during the third trimester. These observations suggest that VZV reactivation occurs commonly during the third trimester of pregnancy. It is possible that this phenomenon, which remains in most patients below the clinical threshold, provides an endogenous boost to immunity and, thus, is beneficial.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v14071438","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,1]],"date-time":"2022-07-01T01:40:36Z","timestamp":1656639636000},"page":"1438","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Silent Reactivation of Varicella Zoster Virus in Pregnancy: Implications for Maintenance of Immunity to Varicella"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Mirella","family":"Mourad","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5893-7643","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Gershon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Columbia University Vagelos College of P&S, New York, NY 10032, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4198-3261","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Satish K.","family":"Mehta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"JES Tech, Human Health and Performance Directorate, Houston, TX 77058, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brian E.","family":"Crucian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center, Human Health and Performance Directorate, Houston, TX 77058, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicole","family":"Hubbard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Pathology, ProMedica Laboratory, Department of Pathology, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Toledo, OH 43614, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4298-8155","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anne","family":"Gershon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1002\/jmv.10555","article-title":"Stress-induced subclinical reactivation of varicella zoster virus in astronauts","volume":"72","author":"Mehta","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. 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Am."}],"container-title":["Viruses"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/14\/7\/1438\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:40:53Z","timestamp":1760139653000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/14\/7\/1438"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7]]}},"alternative-id":["v14071438"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/v14071438","relation":{},"ISSN":["1999-4915"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1999-4915","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]}}}