Varicella vaccination in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

The article presents a case study regarding the use of the varicella vaccine in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In 2003 a 4-year-old girl presented with generalized tonic-clonic seizures during reinduction treatment for ALL. She had been treated according to protocol with ALL-BFM 2000. The child died of progressive acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multi-organ failure 10 days after treatment. The patient's mother recalled that her daughter received live attenuated varicella-zoster virus (VZV) vaccine at another hospital 32 days before the onset of symptoms. Experts say VZV vaccinations should not be given to children with ALL until they are in complete remission for at least 12 months.