Congenital Varicella Syndrome

Congenital varicella syndrome is an extremely rare disorder in which affected infants have distinctive abnormalities at birth  due to the mother's infection with chickenpox (maternal varicella zoster) early during pregnancy (i.e., up to 20 weeks gestation). Affected newborns may have a low birth weight and characteristic abnormalities of the skin, brain, eyes, the arms, legs, hands, and/or feet, and/or, in rare cases, other areas of the body. The range and severity of associated symptoms and physical findings may vary greatly from case to case depending upon when maternal varicella zoster infection occurred during fetal development.