An Outbreak of Cadaver-Acquired Chickenpox in a Health Care Setting

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 43; no. 5; pp. 599 - 601
• Main Authors: Paul, Navin, Jacob, Mini E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.09.2006; University of Chicago Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Adult; Autopsies; Autopsy; Biological and medical sciences; Brief Reports; Cadaver; Cadavers; Chicken pox; Chickenpox; Chickenpox - transmission; Disease Outbreaks; Epidemics; Hospitals; Human herpesvirus 3; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical personnel; Medical sciences; Reinfection; Vaccination; Viral diseases; Viral diseases with cutaneous or mucosal lesions and viral diseases of the eye; Viruses; Infection; Epidemic; Varicella; Skin disease; Viral disease

The varicella-zoster virus (the chickenpox virus) is highly infectious and may affect nonimmune health care professionals. We report an outbreak of chickenpox in our hospital in which the source of infection was a cadaver. The spread of infection occurred in the course of an autopsy.