Successful vaccination against varicella zoster virus prior to kidney transplantation

Background: In recent years we have observed a number of severe complications of primary varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infections after adult kidney transplantation. We questioned how many patients on the waiting list for kidney transplantation had not been protected against VZV and whether patients with renal insufficiency would be able to develop a specific immune response upon VZV vaccination. Methods: We examined the VZV antibody titer of 280 patients on the kidney transplant waiting list. Seronegative kidney transplant candidates were vaccinated twice with a live attenuated varicella vaccine at an interval of 6 weeks. Conclusions: Approximately 3 % of patients on the waiting list were seronegative for VZV. Vaccination induced no side effects and resulted in a positive serologic response in most patients.