Wednesday 03, Jun 2009
Steroid Treatments Can Cause Severe Chicken Pox
Posted Byi steroids
Children who undergo steroid treatments are susceptible to a more severe form of varicella virus, which causes chicken pox. According to Dr. Thomas Mclean, pediatric oncologists at Brenner Children’s Hospital, steroids that are used to treat leukemia also suppress the immune system.
McLean and his group studied 697 patients with acute leukemia for over nine years. In their study, about 16% which is 110 patients contracted chicken pox. From the 110 patients, 54 had severe form of the disease, with two cases of deaths. Patients whose chicken pox was diagnosed within three weeks of taking steroids, 70%had severe infection, while 44% of those who did not receive steroid therapy within three weeks had severe infection.
From Bio-Medicine:
Children who have been treated with steroids and are exposed to chicken pox tend to have a more severe case of the virus, according to pediatric oncologists at Brenner Children’s Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
“Steroids are used to treat leukemia and they suppress the immune system,”
“When a child is exposed to the varicella virus (the virus that causes chicken pox) around the time they are receiving steroid treatment, they are more likely to contract a more severe case of chicken pox.”
Steroids are a common and highly successful treatment for many childhood cancers, McLean said.
“We just need to make sure we don’t mix the two,” he added. “Steroids and the chicken pox virus don’t go together. They are a bad combination.”
According to Dr. McLean that even if the study was limited to patients with leukemia, the findings may apply to other conditions for which steroids are used. He also urged fellow pediatricians to first ask whether the child has had a recent exposure to chicken pox before prescribing steroid treatment. Researchers pointed out that steroids treatments and chicken pox should not go together.
Tags: chicken pox, Dr. McLean, varicella virus
Posted in Steroid Cycles, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, buy steroids, steroid nation
