NATIVE VARICELLA ZOSTER VIRUS Antigen

Others

Native

-80°C

Varicella zoster virus, VZ-10 strain, cultured in MRC-5 cells. Optimally infected monolayers are harvested, resuspended in a small volume of tissue culture fluid and disrupted by sonication. The suspension is subjected to low speed centrifugation and the resulting supernatant constitutes the antigen preparation. The antigen preparation is inactivated using gamma radiation, which primarily damages viral genetic material.

Varicella zoster virus is a member of the herpesvirus family. It commonly causes chickenpox in children and shingles and postherpetic neuralgia in adults. Chickenpox is a common childhood disease characterised by a vesicular skin rash, becoming itchy pockmarks which eventually heal, mostly without scarring. The disease has a 10-21 day incubation period and is easily spread through coughs and sneezes or direct contact with secretions from the rash. The disease is rare, but generally more serious, in adults. The primary outbreak usually confers lifelong protective immunity, however, the virus can go on to cause shingles, a completely different disease, many years after a chickenpox outbreak. Shingles is characterised by a painful skin rash in a limited area on the body. The rash normally heals within two to four weeks, but some individuals may suffer from postherpetic neuralgia, or nerve pain, for months or years to follow.

This product contains a high concentration of virus and viral components as well as some cellular material suspended in EMEM with some serum proteins.