[Congenital and neonatal varicella. A report on 9 cases]

Varicella infection in the first month of life is rare. Neonates may be infected through the placenta or in the perinatal period. In Mexico, the experience with neonatal varicella infection is limited; on the other hand this disease may be misdiagnosed in the neonate. The purpose of this work is to inform nine patients which presented varicella in the neonatal period; in six cases the disease was observed after the 10th but before the 30th day of life; in the remaining cases, the disease was present before the 10th day. Only one patient was premature. Five patients developed varicella in the hospital; in three cases, the mother presented the disease nine, eight, and one day prior delivery; one patient was exposed to varicella in his home. Four patients died but only in one case the death was attributed to varicella.