incidence

Last reviewed 01/2018

Risk of fetal varicella syndrome if maternal chickenpox:

• risk of the syndrome in children exposed to chickenpox in utero is around 0.5% if maternal chickenpox develops at 2-12 weeks of pregnancy
• 1.4% if it develops at 12-28 weeks
• 0% if it develops from 28 weeks onwards
• overall risk in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy is 0.91%

Reference:

1. Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin 2005; 43(12): 94-95.