Varicella Zoster - Chickenpox Immunity Blood Test

About the test

Varicella Zoster, also referred to as the virus responsible for chickenpox and shingles, is a type of herpes virus. In its abbreviated form it is referred to as VZV, this is how it appears on a lot of request forms.

The Varicella Zoster virus (sometimes just caused VZV) is the virus that is responsible for chicken pox and shingles. The majority of people in the UK will be infected with VZV at some point in childhood and this will confer immunity to them. The virus can then lay dormant in the body’s nervous system and may reactivate later in life as the painful, blistering rash known as shingles.

When someone is initially infected with VZV, the body mounts an immune response which includes the production of the immunoglobulin IgM. A few weeks later, the body produces the immunoglobulin IgG which persists in the blood as part of the immune system’s ‘memory’ of the virus, whilst IgM levels fall.

A positive IgG and a negative IgM therefore demonstrates previous infection (or vaccination) and the presence of immunity.

1 Biomarker