Varicella post-exposure prophylaxis in children with cancer: Urgent need for a randomised controlled trial

摘要

We welcome the interest of Samuelson et al1 in our work on prevention of varicella in children with cancer.2 However, they misrepresent our method for estimating the incidence of varicella zoster virus (VZV) exposure requiring post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which did not rely on consultant recollection. As described in detail in our paper, this was achieved by painstaking scrutiny of varicella zoster immunoglobulin (VZIG) administration records held by the Health Protection Agency reflecting PEP in children with cancer over a 3-year period.2 We extrapolated to the national cohort on the basis of patient numbers at centres that do and do not use VZIG as PEE We did this precisely because of the problems in accurately recording the use of aciclovir prophylaxis to which Samuelson et al allude.