Chickenpox ARDS in a health care worker following occupational exposure

A case is described of chickenpox acute respiratory distresssyndrome in an ambulance driver after the inter-hospital transferof a patient known to have chickenpox pneumonia. Following thisexposure, he neither avoided patient contact nor received varicellazoster immune globulin. He subsequently required 13 days ofventilatory support before making a full recovery. The casedescribed supports the contention that health care workers shouldbe screened by serology for immunity to chickenpox before patientcontact occurs, with subsequent vaccination of those who arenon-immune, when the vaccine becomes available.