{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,21]],"date-time":"2025-08-21T16:31:42Z","timestamp":1755793902970,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"SMW Supporting Association","issue":"3536","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,28]],"date-time":"2016-08-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1472342400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Swiss Med Wkly"],"abstract":"<jats:p>QUESTION  UNDER STUDY: In Switzerland, vaccination against varicella is not recommended in  the basic immunisation schedule. However, for individuals aged 11\u201340 years who  do not have a reliable varicella history the Swiss Federal Office of Public  Health recommends either (i) a vaccination or (ii) a serology test and vaccination  of those with a negative result. In the Travel Clinic of the University of  Zurich, the second strategy is followed. In this study we retrospectively  assessed the overall percentage of individuals with varicella-specific  antibodies despite a negative history and we examined the influence of age,  number of siblings, order of siblings, age difference to siblings and  nationality on varicella seropositivity.\n        METHODS: Between  December 2008 and August 2015, the sera of 1757 individuals with a negative  varicella history were tested for varicella antibodies.\n        RESULTS: A  total of 1593 individuals (91%) had a positive result. We found an increasing  trend for varicella seropositivity with increasing age. Those aged less than 40  years were significantly more often seronegative (9.5%) than those aged 40  years and above (6.0%, p = 0.049). Seropositivity was associated with  nationality. The percentage of seropositives increased with the number  of siblings.\n        CONCLUSIONS:  Our results indicate that, despite the significant varicella seropositivity differences between those aged below and above, the age of 40 may not be an ideal threshold for performing a varicella serology in individuals with a negative or unknown varicella history. In the age groups above 40, testing for varicella antibodies  may be especially reasonable in individuals with no or a small number of  siblings and in those of specific nationalities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4414\/smw.2016.14342","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,12,20]],"date-time":"2016-12-20T10:25:55Z","timestamp":1482229555000},"page":"w14342","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Varicella  seroprevalence in individuals with a negative or unknown varicella history \u2013  results from a large travel clinic in Switzerland between 2008 and 2015"],"prefix":"10.57187","volume":"146","author":[{"given":"Michael","family":"Freuler","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Susan","family":"De Crom","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christoph","family":"Hatz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Silja","family":"B\u00fchler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"36756","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,28]]},"container-title":["Swiss Medical Weekly"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/download\/2217\/3313","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/download\/2217\/3314","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/download\/2217\/3313","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T07:07:30Z","timestamp":1755241650000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/view\/2217"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,28]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3536","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,29]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4414\/smw.2016.14342","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-3997"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-3997"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,28]]}}}