An 11-year-old girl presented with a papulovesicular rash and severe respiratory distress 5 weeks after receiving varicella vaccine. Restriction fragment length-polymorphism analysis of virus isolated from an endotracheal-tube aspirate and from bronchoalveolar lavage revealed that this patient's illness was due to the Oka vaccine strain of varicella. An extensive immunologic analysis failed to identify a known diagnostic entity to explain her susceptibility to this attenuated vaccine strain. Analysis of her lymphocytes on separate occasions, months after recovery from her illness, revealed a profound deficiency of natural killer T (NKT) cells and of NKT-cell activity, suggesting that NKT cells contribute to host defense against varicella virus.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Levy et al. (2003) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: