skip to content

It's a New Day in Public Health.

The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote & improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, & community efforts.

skip to content
 

Vaccine Preventable Diseases

* Enter the following to confirm subscription

Varicella (Chickenpox) in Florida

Contact: Florida Health


October Key Points

86 Cases
0 New
outbreaks
<1 year olds had
highest incidence
54% not up-to-date or
unknown vaccination status
A graph showing a summary of varicella cases reported by month in 2019 as compared to the previous 5-year average. In October 2019, 86 cases of varicella were reported, which is above the previous 5-year average.

The number of varicella cases reported in October increased slightly from last month and remained above the previous 5-year average. Due to robust vaccination programs, there is no longer a discernable seasonality for varicella cases in the United States.

A map showing the previous 3-month average varicella rates per 100,000 population. Counties with one or more cases reported in October are: Baker, Brevard, Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Leon, Levy, Marion, Martin, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa, Seminole, Volusia. Counties with a rate of 0.1-0.2 per 100,000 population are: Duval, Leon, Manatee, Martin, Orange, Osceola, Pinellas, Polk, St. Lucie, Sarasota, Seminole. Counties with a rate of 0.3-0.6 per 100,000 population are: Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Collier, Escambia, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Marion, Nassau, Palm Beach, Pasco, St. Johns, Santa Rosa, Sumter, Volusia. Counties with a rate of 0.7-1.2 per 100,000 population are: Baker, Bay, Miami-Dade, DeSoto, Flagler, Levy, Okaloosa, Suwannee.

The 86 varicella cases in October were reported among the 26 counties outlined in black. From August through October 2019 the average county rate varied throughout the state.

A graph showing a summary of the total number of varicella cases reported by year with an emphasis on 2019. In total for each year there have been: 567 in 2014; 741 in 2015; 733 in 2016; 656 in 2017; 853 in 2018; and 839 in 2019.

From January 1, 2019 through October 31, 2019, 839 varicella cases were reported in 55 counties.

The annual number of reported varicella cases decreased from 2015 to 2017. Year-to-date cases counts as of October 2019 are higher than those seen at this time in previous years, as noted by the white bar in the figure.

A graph showing a bar graph of total cases compared to household associated cases and outbreak associated cases for October 2019 and the previous 3-month average.

In October, 13 (15%) of 86 total cases were associated with transmission within households and no cases were outbreak-associated. For most varicella cases, exposure to other known cases is never identified, and they are not able to be linked to outbreaks.

No varicella outbreaks were reported in October.

So far in 2019, a total of one varicella outbreak has been reported in a detention facility.

*Note: This page contains materials in the Portable Document Format (PDF). The free Acrobat Reader may be required to view these files.