Chickenpox can still kill adults

More than four fifths of deaths from chickenpox are now in adults, compared with less than half 30 years ago. Chickenpox accounts for about 25 deaths annually in England and Wales, more than from measles, mumps, pertussis, and Hib meningitis combined. Deaths are twice as common in men as in women. Rawson and colleagues (p 1091) draw attention to the importance of chickenpox as a cause of death by examining 119 death certificates that mentioned chickenpox in England and Wales over a three year period. Chickenpox should therefore not be thought of as a innocuous disease.


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Relevant Article

Deaths from chickenpox in England and Wales 1995-7: analysis of routine mortality data
Helen Rawson, Amelia Crampin, and Norman Noah
BMJ 2001 323: 1091-1093. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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