Varicella-Zoster Virus: Understanding Immunity & Vaccine Effectiveness - Research Paper

What People Know About Varicella Virus

Varicella virus is an infectious pathogen caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The primary infection for varicella is chickenpox. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (353) indicated that scientists had recognized the recurrent infection for varicella, herpes zoster, also known as shingles, since ancient times. Galetta and Gilden (2) asserted that clinical descriptions of varicella date back to antiquity. Scientists were unable to differentiate chickenpox from smallpox until the end of the 19th century (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 353). Von Bokay, a scientist, conducted clinical observations in 1888, determined that children acquired chickenpox after contact with herpes zoster (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 353).

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The pathogen has complications. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (355) indicated that acute varicella is always mild but can also lead to death. Secondary bacterial infection of skin lesions with Staphylococcus or Streptococcus causes hospitalizations, while infections with an invasive group, streptococci, cause severe illness and death (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 355). Seemingly, people with compromised immune systems are likely to die from the disease. Cates, Donati, Gillet, Ustianowski, and Galloway (596) asserted that chickenpox is more life-threatening in immunosuppressed patients. Also, varicella may cause pneumonia, which might be viral or bacterial in children under one year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 355). More so, the authors of the document added that the pathogen affects the central nervous system resulting in meningitis to encephalitis.

The mode of transmission is person to person through respiratory tract secretions (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 358). According to Haberthur and Messaoudi (355) a person acquires the diseases through means such as the inhalation of virus-laden respiratory droplets, contact with skin varicella lesions, and contact with an infectious varicella fluid. The incubation period for the pathogen ranges from 10-21 days (Haberthur and Messaoudi 355).

Vaccines are the current treatment for the disease. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (366) indicated that the varicella vaccine, Postexposure Prophylaxis, is 70-100% effective in preventing the pathogen from manifesting in a person's body. Furthermore, Laemmle, Goldstein, Kichington (3) indicated that the adaptive vaccine protects human beings from further acquiring the disease. The authors reported that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vaccine, Varivax, in America has reduced the number of hospitalizations and deaths in the country.

Sample Size Used in the Article

In the scientific study, researchers incorporated 110 monoclonal antibodies through immunizing mice, guinea pigs, and rats. They vaccinated mice by removing serum from membrane proteins of cells that did not have the varicella virus (Liu et al. 1). Researchers characterized the monoclonal antibodies and established a competitive sandwich, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the neutralizing antibodies in human serum according to the FAMA test (Liu et al. 1). More so, researchers evaluated a total of 920 human serum.

What Researchers Tested

Based on the purpose and sample size used in the research, it is evident that the study tested prevention methods such as vaccines using the samples of mice, guinea pigs, and rats. Liu et al. (2) indicated, "Cell-free virus, purified recombinant glycoproteins, and VZV-gps were used to immunize BALB/c mice, and a collection of 110 mAbs were obtained." As the researchers stipulated, they used monoclonal antibodies to find competitive ELISA, which was similar to the FAMA test in the 920 human serum identification (Liu et al. 2). The researchers used the established competitive ELISA to determine the status of immunity to varicella-zoster virus.

Researchers incorporated an experiment to establish to prove the purpose of their study. For instance, they used E. coli to show the outside cells of varicella-zoster virus membrane protein.s and used gE membrane protein to express the extracellular domain of rgE antigen (Liu et al. 6).

Findings From the Study

Results from the study showed that the rgE antigen was likely to elicit many antibodies from the immunized mice. More so, using the E. coli expression to determine the extracellular proteins of the varicella-zoster virus, results showed that fragments of the cells showed traces of v-Oka infection (Liu et al. 7). Overall, their research established that competitive ELISA performed well in human serum identification. More so, the authors stated that the "rgE-immunized mice, v-Oka-immunized guinea pigs, and SD rats blocked 1B11 binding to rgE." The researchers concluded their findings by saying that the competitive ELISA could be used to evaluate the neutralizing antibodies in both humans and animals.

Limitations

The study offers no limitations to the study. However, it would be best for the authors to study the specificity and sensitivity of ELISA and FAMA to determine whether the antibody produced is protective. Knowledge of the matter would provide more insights into the viral load of the pathogen.

Future Directions

The study does not mention any future directions. However, in the future, researchers need to delve more into the latency of varicella-zoster virus among people with compromised immune systems. The center for disease control and prevention will play a significant role in establishing a universal immunization program that would eliminate the transmission of the virus.

Works Cited

Cates et al. "Managing varicella-zoster virus contact and infection in patients on antirheumatic therapy." Rheumatology, vol. 57, no. 596605, 2018. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kex189

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "Varicella." Epidemiology and prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases, 13th Edition. 2015, www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/varicella.pdf

Galetta, Kristin, M., and Gilden, Don. "Zeroing in on zoster: a tale of many disorders produced by one virus." Journal of Neurological Science, vol. 358, 2015, pp. 38-45. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2015.10.004

Haberthur, Kristen., and Messaoudi, Ilhem. "Animal models of Varicella-zoster Virus infection." Pathogens, vol. 2, 2013, pp. 364-382; doi:10.3390/pathogens2020364

Laemmle, Lillian et al. "Modeling Varicella-zoster Virus persistence and reactivation - closer to resolving a perplexing persistent state. Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 10, 2019. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01634

Liu, J. et al. "Serological evaluation of immunity to the Varicella-Zoster Virus based on a novel competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay." Scientific Reports, vol. 6, number 20577, 2016, doi: 10.1038/srep20577