Knowledge and awareness of varicella zoster among the dental students

Background: Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is one of eight herpesviruses known to infect humans. VZV infections are species-specific to humans. It causes chickenpox (varicella), a disease most commonly affecting children, teens and young adults and herpes zoster (shingles) in older adults; shingles is rare in children. VZV is known by many names, including chickenpox virus, varicella virus, zoster virus, and human herpesvirus type 3 (HHV-3) VZV multiplies in the lungs, and causes a wide variety of symptoms. After the primary infection (chickenpox), the virus goes dormant in the nerves, including the cranial nerve ganglia, dorsal root ganglia, and autonomic ganglia. Many years after the patient has recovered from chickenpox, VZV can reactivate to cause neurologic conditions
Aim and Objective: To observe and analyse knowledge of Varicella Zoster among the students in dentistry. To identify the awareness of Varicella Zoster in dental students.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was circulated among various dental students of different colleges in Chennai. The questionnaire consists of demographic profile and questionnaire related to knowledge regarding varicella zoster virus .Closed ended questionnaire was constructed with a total of 10 items designed to assess the knowledge regarding varicella zoster virus.
Result: Unfortunately many of the dental students were not aware of this varicella zoster. Only 39% of the total population surveyed were aware of varicella zoster virus.The knowledge about this disease is poor among theDental students.
Conclusion: From the above survey it was observed that dental students were not much aware of this disease.So we have to create an awareness among the dental students.