Contacts with children and young people and adult risk of suffering herpes zoster

Abstract We carried out a matched case–control study to analyze the possible association between exposure to the children and the risk of suffering herpes-zoster in adulthood. Cases of herpes zoster in immunocompetent healthy patients aged ≥25 years seen in the dermatology department of the Sagrado Corazon Hospital in 2007–2008 were matched with four controls. Data were analyzed using conditional logistic regression. 153 cases and 604 matched controls were included. Contacts with children were significantly associated with a reduction in the risk of suffering herpes zoster in adulthood (adjusted OR 0.56 [0.37–0.85]). Herpes-zoster vaccination in immunocompetent people aged ≥50 years could counteract the possible negative effects of mass varicella vaccination in childhood on the epidemiology of herpes zoster in adults.