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The latent varicella zoster virus lies dormant in the body after a person has chicken pox.—Amy McGorry, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2025 Instead, varicella, commonly known as chickenpox, is recommended as a standalone shot.—Reuters, USA Today, 7 Oct. 2025 Harder to get combo MMRV vaccine Separately, the CDC advisory committee also voted that the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine would no longer be recommended before age 4.—Tami Luhby, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2025 Young children can gain the same protection by getting separate shots for MMR and varicella, and most of them – some 85% – already do, according to CDC data shared and discussed at the advisory committee's September meeting.—Pien Huang, NPR, 6 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for varicella
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from New Latin, from vari- (in variolavariola) + Medieval Latin -cella, diminutive suffix (extracted from nouns such as nāvicella, diminutive of Latin nāvicula "boat," diminutive of nāvis "ship")
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