INFECTIOUS diseases of the newborn have provoked much interest in the past. Our incomplete knowledge of neonatal immunity plus the added uncertainty of a variable incubation period and the role of the placenta make it difficult to comprehend some of the phenomena associated with such acute infectious diseases. Varicella is one of the diseases which infrequently affect the newborn. At least 10 such cases of varicella, are reported in the literature. The excellent report of Oppenheimer1 is the only record we know of containing the report of a complete autopsy of this condition. Apert, as cited by Lereboullet,2 is reported to have observed an epidemic of 12 cases of varicella in newborn infants 14, 16 and 17 days and older, with 2 deaths of premature infants, in whom autopsies showed the presence of tuberculous lesions. The youngest patient in whom varicella developed after birth is reported by Hubbard,