Institutional Outbreak of Varicella in a Child Welfare Institute in Chandigarh, North India

Introduction: Varicella outbreaks are known to occur in developing nations as vaccine coverage is still low. Material and Methods: In the present study, an institutional outbreak from Chandigarh, India, is reported wherein the utility of non-invasive samples such as saliva and urine was studied for the molecular diagnosis of varicella by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR and real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification (real-time LAMP). Results: The results of the present study showed that saliva and urine samples can be used for outbreak investigation of varicella compared to varicella-zoster virus DNA in vesicular swab samples with reasonable sensitivity. Conclusion: Thus, molecular techniques may be useful in the early identification of the outbreak and timely isolation, and the treatment of cases can further prevent its spread.