Steroids and chicken pox: not a good mix

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Oct 18, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Wake Forest University scientists say children treated with steroids and subsequently exposed to chicken pox tend to have a more severe case of the virus.

Pediatric oncologists at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, say children undergoing steroid treatments for diseases, such as childhood leukemia, face increased risks of contracting a more severe form of chicken pox, which may result in death.

Steroids suppress the immune system, said Thomas McLean, a pediatric oncologist. When a child is exposed to the varicella virus -- the virus that causes chicken pox -- around the time they are receiving steroid treatment, they are at increased risk of contracting a more severe case of chicken pox, he said.

McLean and colleagues studied 697 patients with acute leukemia during a nine-year period. About 110 patients contracted chicken pox and of those, 54 had severe disease, including two deaths.

Of the patients whose chicken pox was diagnosed within three weeks of taking steroids, 70 percent had severe infection, whereas only 44 percent of those who not receiving steroidal therapy within three weeks developed severe infection.

The research appears in the journal Pediatrics.

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