INTRODUCTION When co-administered with interferon and ribavirin, the prescription drug telaprevir significantly improves treatment response in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Its use, however, also increases the likelihood of adverse effects that may lead to discontinuation of treatment. Cutaneous adverse effects are particularly common. OBJECTIVE To determine the fre...

Purpura fulminans is a rare but dramatic disease which occurs most commonly during or after an infection. It is characterized by extensive involvement of the skin and extremities and involvement of visceral organs. Purpura fulminans, when occurring after a viral infection such as varicella, is usually characterized by purpuric lesions involving the trunk, usually with sparing of the visceral or...

Human herpesvirus-6B (HHV-6B), a causative agent of exanthem subitum, infects human adult T cell leukemia (ATL) cell lines. We established a persistent HHV-6B infection in an ATL cell line, TaY, in the presence of 20 units/ml interleukin-2 (IL-2). The HHV-6B infected culture proliferated with a constant ratio of infected (1%) to the uninfected (99%) cells. When the IL-2 concentration was reduce...

Quenching probe PCR (QP-PCR) analysis was used to determine the frequency of ganciclovir (GCV) resistance among clinical isolates of human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) obtained from patients with primary viral infection and viral reactivation. Forty-two HHV-6B clinical isolates were repeatedly recovered from 15 hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients, and 20 isolates were recovered from...

BACKGROUND Drug hypersensitivity is classically divided into IgE mediated and non-IgE mediated disease. We report a rare case of consequent IgE mediated and non-IgE mediated reactions within the beta lactam class of antibiotics. CASE SUMMARY An 84-year-old man developed toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) due to ceftriaxone, a third generation cephalosporin, involving 72% of the body surface are...

Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6), a mature T-cell lymphotropic virus, is a newly recognized member of the herpes virus family and shares limited homology with human cytomegalovirus. HHV-6 has been identified as the etiologic agent of the childhood illness exanthem subitum (roseola infantum). Widespread acquisition of this virus has been demonstrated to occur early in childhood, with fever as the mos...

HHV-6 is ubiquitous in the community, appears to be acquired early in life, and has been proved to cause the clinical syndrome of exanthem subitum, and rarely to cause encephalitis. Like other herpesviruses, HHV-6 is capable of establishing latent infection and reactivating under a variety of stimuli. Improved diagnostic techniques have led to increased recognition of HHV-6 in the presence of m...

Pityriasis rosea (PR) is a common skin eruption in children that is characterized by a single skin patch that usually evolves into a widespread exanthem after one week. The duration of PR is typically six weeks and the condition is selflimited with excellent prognosis. The diagnosis is established by proper history taking and physical examination of the skin lesions. Laboratory investigations a...