Dear Dr David I am the same person who's daughter and grand son 10 month kid both r HIV Pos. I want an advice from You,and my Dr from India has also aske me to post this que to You.Can this child with Vl 100,000 copies and CD count 4,000 gan be given a vaccine for chicken pox? Thanks Dr.Regards.

Thanks for your question. According the National Guideline Clearing House website:

"Children infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may be at increased risk of morbidity from varicella and herpes zoster. Limited data on immunization of HIV-infected children in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention class I (CD4+ T-lymphocyte percentage of 25% or more) indicate that the vaccine is safe, immunogenic, and effective. Therefore, weighing potential risks and benefits, varicella vaccine should be considered for HIV-infected children in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention class I with mild or no signs or symptoms. With the increased use of varicella vaccine and the resulting decrease in incidence of varicella in the community, exposure of immunocompromised hosts to varicella-zoster virus will decrease. As the risk of exposure decreases and more data are generated on the use of varicella vaccine in high-risk populations, the risk versus benefit of varicella immunization in HIV-infected children will need to be reassessed."

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also indicates that the vaccine can be safely given to HIV-infected kids with no symptoms or only mild symptoms of HIV can receive the vaccince.

Check out:

http://www.guideline.gov/VIEWS/summary.asp?guideline=1992&summary_type=brief_summary&view=brief_summary&sSearch_string=

http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/pink/Appendices/A/ContPrec.pdf

DW