Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995                   TAG: 9507050032
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WITH A $50 SHOT, KIDS CAN AVOID CHICKENPOX

"That work time is valuable," said Dr. G. Lindsay Hickam, a member of Pediatric Associates of Roanoke Valley.

Varivax, made from a live varicella (chickenpox) virus, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in March. It was shipped to Roanoke-area pediatricians a few weeks ago.

A cost-benefit analysis published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that the routine use of the Varivax vaccine could save $384 million a year, most of that in lost income to parents.

In the average household, a child with chickenpox loses 8.7 days of school, and adult caretakers lose one-half to 1.8 days of work, the study said.

Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus. Most of the 3.5 million cases of chickenpox each year occur in children ages 5 to 9. They get a blisterlike skin rash that appears first on the face, scalp or trunk. Other symptoms are fever, fatigue, loss of appetite and headache.

Adults who get chickenpox are often sicker and more likely to be hospitalized.

Complications from chickenpox are unusual, physicians say, but can include bacterial infection of the skin, lungs and bones; Reye's syndrome (which is associated with the use of aspirin medications); pneumonia; and encephalitis.

About 90 fatal cases of chickenpox are reported annually to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to an article in the May issue of Pediatrics.

Hickam said his group recommends that parents have their children inoculated against chickenpox as part of the series of required vaccinations.

Hickam also is telling parents "who like to have their children get chickenpox naturally" that the children might not catch the disease until they're older, when the consequences can be more severe.

Varivax can be given to children at age 1. People older than 13 need two shots given about a month apart.

A major drawback to the use of the vaccine, Hickam said, "is that most insurance companies aren't paying for it."

The vaccine is available for around $50 in Western Virginia.

Dr. Douglas Pierce, who practices with Physicians to Children, said he is telling parents about the vaccine when they come in, but hasn't gone beyond that to notify families about Varivax.

"We haven't sent out any mass mailers saying, 'Come in and get your vaccine,''' Pierce said.

Also, Pierce does not recommend the vaccine for girls who have entered puberty.

"We don't know what it might do in case of pregnancy," he said. "I'm still bothered by this."

Based on preliminary information, Pierce said, Varivax "is a very good vaccine."

Merck, which already markets vaccines to help prevent measles, mumps, rubella, influenza type B, pneumococcal pneumonia and hepatitis B, has been working on Varivax since 1981.

Varivax has been given to 9,454 healthy children and to 1,648 healthy adolescents and adults in clinical trials. Its overall effectiveness was about 77 percent.

One drawback is that, at this stage of research, no one knows how long Varivax is effective. The drug company has started a long-term surveillance study to try to determine that.