Children administered with steroids to treat chicken pox are at a higher risk of a more severe case of the virus leading to death.

The finding was revealed by pediatric oncologists at the Brenner Children’s Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Steroids are used to treat leukemia and they suppress the immune system,” said Thomas McLean, a pediatric oncologist at Brenner Children’s Hospital. “When a child is exposed to the varicella virus (the virus that causes chicken pox) around the time they are receiving steroid treatment, they are more likely to contract a more severe case of chicken pox.”

McLean and his colleagues studied 697 patients with acute leukemia over a nine-year period. About 16 percent or 110 patients contracted chicken pox. Of those 110 patients, 54 had severe disease, including two deaths. Of the patients whose chicken pox was diagnosed within three weeks of taking steroids, 70 percent had severe infection whereas only 44 percent of those who had not received steroid therapy within three weeks had severe infection. Although the study was limited to patients with leukemia, the findings may apply to other conditions for which steroids are used, McLean said.

“One of the things we need to remember to ask before we prescribe steroid treatment is whether the child has had a recent exposure to chicken pox,” McLean said. “If so, we recommend waiting until the incubation period has passed before beginning steroid therapy.”

It was noted that chicken pox, though mild in nature, can result in fatal complications. It is worth noting here that there were approximately 12,000 deaths from chicken pox on a yearly basis before the discovery of varicella vaccine.

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