Situación epidemiológica de varicela en el municipio de Pradera (Valle del Cauca, Colombia) entre 2003 a 2007

Introduction: Chickenpox is a acute viral illness highly contagious of sudden onset with mild fever, general symptoms, maculopapular rash and vesicular type, affecting mainly children under 10 years. Objectives: To describe the behavior of chickenpox between 2003 / 2007 in Padrera. (Valle del Cauca). Methods: A descriptive study was made of the records product Surveillance System in Public Health in Pradera secondary to the collection of cases of chickenpox reported by providers of municipal health services weekly. Results: We observed an increase of 10 times the rates for chickenpox in 2006 compared to 2003; this mainly affected children from 1 to 4 years (14 times), followed by young adults between 15 and 44 years (13 times) and 45 to 59 years (9 times); there were also people ill in extreme age (under one year - over 60). Conclusions: The Chickenpox by a high epidemic power required for control and prevention mobilization of different sectors of the population: health, social and education; it is an event that when not controlling properly affects unusual population groups (older than 15 years and less than 1 year). The prevention and control strategies implemented between the Secretaries Local Health in Pradera and Department of Valle helped to mitigate further spread of this event in 2007.