While many GPs will not have encountered complications of vaccine-preventable diseases, the threat of rare and life-threatening sequelae in infected children remains.

Despite longstanding and effective vaccines, the common live-vaccine preventable viruses — varicella zoster virus (VZV), measles, mumps and rubella — remain a threat in Australia.

This is due to incomplete vaccination coverage and high infectivity (eg measles), suboptimal vaccine efficacy (eg mumps, VZV) or an inability to vaccinate certain groups (eg young age, immunocompromised).

With diseases like mumps and VZV continuing to grumble on in the community, and measles occurring in explosive outbreaks, it is an opportune time to review the rarer complications of these infections in the paediatric population, many of which clinicians may not have encountered first-hand.