INTRODUCTION Varicella zoster virus is an exclusively human neurotrophic virus. The primary infection with the virus causes varicella. The virus remains latent in nervous tissue and upon secondary activation causes a variety of syndromes involving the central nervous system (CNS) including meningoencephalitis and cerebellitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, we looked at the epidemiology...

Varicella zoster virus reactivation often occurs in the setting of impaired immunity, which is generally present in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Therapy for variceIla zoster virus infection is well established. However, it is often been forgotten that acyclovir dosage should be adjusted to renal function. We point to the problem encountered in clinical practice when ESRD patien...

A 51-year-old woman with CREST syndrome (calcinosis, Raynaud phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia) developed stepwise progressive focal neurological deficits without zoster rash. Multifocal ischemic infarcts were seen on magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebral angiography revealed focal stenosis of arteries affecting the intracranial circulation. A brain biopsy...

Concurrent reactivation of herpes simplex and varicella zoster viruses is rare. Here, we describe the case of an elderly patient with herpes labialis and herpes zoster manifesting as a right-side facial eruption with vesicles and crusting. The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay demonstrated the presence of both herpes simplex virus type 1 and varicella zoster virus in swab samp...

Primary varicella-zoster virus infection in children with haematological malignancy is a life threatening disease. In one year, there were 10 cases of varicella and 2 cases of zoster among these children as well as 5 mothers who were accompanying their children who developed varicella in the oncology ward. Two children died of fulminating disease despite aggressive antiviral and supportive trea...

The anticomplement immunofluorescence (ACIF) test was compared with complement fixation and fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen procedures for the detection of antibody to varicella-zoster virus. All of 50 sera from pregnant women contained antibody measured by ACIF (titer, greater than or equal to 1:10); only 27 (54%) were positive by complement fixation (P less than 0.01). For 16 paired ...

Sir, Post-marketing surveillance (PMS) supplies important information on the pro® t ± risk evaluation of a drug after its approval. Its importance derives from the fact that it is carried out in routine clinical everyday life and without the patient and investigator selection biases that result from controlled clinical studies. Herpes zoster is a common disease that affects up to 20% of the pop...

BACKGROUND The incidence and risk factors for herpes zoster have been studied in cross-sectional and cohort studies, although most such studies have been conducted in Western countries. Evidence from Asian populations is limited, and no cohort study has been conducted in Asia. We are conducting a 3-year prospective cohort study in Shozu County in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan to determine the incide...

A 70-year-old man, with regional herpes zoster (C2) of 10 weeks duration, died following subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by the rupture of an aneurysm in the basilar artery. Granulomatous angiitis, with multinucleated giant cells, was found at autopsy in the wall of the aneurysm. Electron microscopy of the basilar artery disclosed intracytoplasmic viral particles with an envelope which measured ...

Localized herpes zoster following intra-articular corticosteroid injection is remarkable. We describe an 80-year-old woman with severe osteoarthritis that received an intra-articular injection of 80 mg methylprednisolone in her knee, followed 1 day later by the appearance of linear unilateral vesicles and bullae on her leg in a dermatomal distribution adjacent to the injection site. The roofs o...