Chickenpox cases fall 80% over decade: CDC Two-dose schedule
will deliver further improvement, experts say. (HealthDay) --
Chickenpox cases in the United States dropped almost 80 percent
between 2000 and 2010 in 31 states following routine use of the
varicella vaccine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reports. Updated figures published by the CDC
Thursday also show that in the four years after a two-dose
vaccine was recommended for children in 2006, cases of
chickenpox declined about 70 percent. The biggest drop occurred
in children between the ages of 5 and 9. "This is one of our
success stories," Dr. Charles Shubin, medical director of the
Children's Health Center of Mercy FamilyCare in Baltimore, said
when earlier figures were released last year. The number of
states with adequate chickenpox reporting systems jumped from 12
to 31 between 2000 and 2010, allowing the CDC to better monitor
the effectiveness of the vaccine, introduced for routine use in
the United States in 1996, the agency