Varicella in military personnel: clinical features of recent decades
Materials of surveys for the last 25 years of 1,612 servicemen suffering from varicella are presented. The clinical features of the periods of the disease, the structure of the severity of its course and complications were studied. The characteristic manifestations of the prodromal phase of varicella were revealed. It is shown that the varicellous enanthema can often occur in places not available for direct pharyngoscopy. None of the patients had windmill pneumonia, encephalomeningitis, and other specific complications. Varicella usually presented with acute onset, followed usual pattern, without serious complications and deaths. In 72% of patients she debuted with fever and/or asthenovegetative syndrome. There were mild signs of damage to the upper respiratory system, enanthema and lymphadenopathy, whose frequency increased with increasing severity of the disease. Lesions of the respiratory system had a combined aetiology: some of the symptoms were due to the action of the causative agent of varicella, others - viral and bacterial mixed infections, common in military collectives.