[Recommendations for clinical practice: Prevention and management of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection during pregnancy and the perinatal period (extended version)].

Abstract

The Société de Pathologie Infectieuse de Langue Française released in 2024 a new national recommendation for clinical practice on the prevention and management of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection during pregnancy and the perinatal period. The previous recommendation was issued in 1998, at a time of anti-VZV immunoglobulins shortage; it has hence become obsolete. This recommendation is a formalized expert consensus focusing on infectious diseases management; it is drawn up by a multidisciplinary working group (infectiologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, microbiologists, midwives, hygienists). It has been endorsed by the Collège National des Gynécologues Obstétriciens Français, the Société Française de Médecine Périnatale, the Société Française de Néonatologie, the Collège des Sage-femmes, and the Groupe Infections et Périnatalité of the Société Française de Microbiologie. The aim of this article is to explain and recontextualize the elements of this recommendation.