Institutional outbreak of varicella in a child welfare institute in Chandigarh, North India.

INTRODUCTION

Varicella outbreaks are known to occur in developing nations as vaccine coverage is still low.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

In the present study, an institutional outbreak from Chandigarh, India, is reported wherein the utility of non-invasive samples such as saliva and urine was studied for the molecular diagnosis of varicella by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR and real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification (real-time LAMP).

RESULTS

The results of the present study showed that saliva and urine samples can be used for outbreak investigation of varicella compared to varicella-zoster virus DNA in vesicular swab samples with reasonable sensitivity.

CONCLUSION

Thus, molecular techniques may be useful in the early identification of the outbreak and timely isolation, and the treatment of cases can further prevent its spread.