Deaths from chickenpox, although rare, have dipped steeply after the U.S. began vaccinating against the virus in 1995, a new government report concludes. Since the early 1990s, the bug has gone from killing 105 a year to causing fewer than 20 annual deaths between 2003 and 2007. Writing in the journal Pediatrics, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) call the results “impressive” and say they show the benefit from the vaccine program is larger than expected. Chickenpox is caused by the varicella zoster virus and produces fever and an itchy rash. In rare cases, it can be complicated by bacterial infections, swelling of the brain or pneumonia.
