CHICKENPOX IN THE UNITED-STATES, 1972-1977

Chickenpox has been a nationally notifiable disease in the United States since 1972, but as of 1977, 10 states still did not require notification of this disease. In five states, only cases occurring in adults must be reported. Although many states do collect sex-, race-, or age-specific data, no state is required to report these data to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The only chicken pox-associated complications reported to CDC are encephalitis and encephalitis-associated deaths. Deaths secondary to chickenpox infection are reported to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). This report is a summary of available surveillance data from these sources for chickenpox in the United States in the period 1972-1977. The accuracy and completeness of reporting vary widely among states. Severe cases are more likely to be reported than are mild cases. Such a bias in reporting tends to produce an artificial inflation of the death-to-case and encephalitis-to-case ratios. © 1979 by The University of Chicago.