Varicella is usually a mild self-limited benign disease in immunocompetent children. Although severe forms and complications were believed to be more frequent in immunocompromised people, secondary bacterial infections, neurological complications and even death can occur in healthy chidren. In the present study, we aimed to describe the incidence of varicella complications in Turkey, where varicella vaccination has not been routinely performed, and to emphasize the requirement for varicella vaccination. We performed a retrospective study which included the data collected from medical records and files of l44 immunocompetent children who were hospitalized for complications of varicella infections. Complications were mostly present in preschool children (mean age 4.6±3.2 years). Hospitalizations were most prominent in June (13.7%) and December (13.7%), and were lowest in March and September. The most prominent complications were secondary bacterial infections (53.4%); the other complications in decreasing order of frequency were neurological complications (25%), gastrointestinal and hepatic complications (8.3%), hematologic complications (6.4%), varicella pneumonia (2.8%), neonatal varicella (2.8 %) and disseminated varicella infection (1.4%). Nearly 70% of the secondary bacterial infections were soft tissue infections including abscess and impetigo. Cerebellar ataxia (55.5%) was the most common neurological complication. All patients with neurological complication had full recovery without any significant sequelae. Neurological complications were more common in older ages. Totally, three children (2%) in the study group died; two due to disseminated varicella infection and one with sepsis. In conclusion, since varicella infection are still associated with complications, universal routine varicella vaccination could help in reducing the incidence of varicella and its related complications.

Keywords: suçiçeği, komplikasyon.