1 Department of Pediatrics, The University of Arizona, Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ 85724
We thank Drs Partin and Schubert for their commentary on our report. We anticipated this type of reaction to our findings, hence our discussion in the body of our report.
The issue is clear. Is there an entity, varicella hepatitis, that is distinct from what some call stage I (or 0) Reye's syndrome? Neither our data nor the data in the above letter answer the question clearly. It is clear that there are children who have varicella with vomiting and associated liver enzyme elevations.