AIM To investigative whether clinical manifestations of anterior uveitis are associated with the viral load of varicella zoster virus (VZV) in the aqueous humor in patients with herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) and zoster sine herpete (ZSH). METHODS After informed consent was given, an aliquot of aqueous humor was collected from patients with VZV anterior uveitis (n = 8). Genomic DNA of the h...

The effect of intravenous acyclovir (at a dosage of 30 mg/kg per day for five days) on uncomplicated herpes zoster was investigated in 51 patients in a double-blind study. Although existing herpes zoster lesions tended to heal more rapidly and new lesions ceased to appear somewhat earlier in the acyclovir group, these differences were not statistically significant. During treatment, patients on...

The author describes a 71-year-old woman in whom cutaneous cervical herpes zoster was complicated by the development of cervical myelitis. T2-weighted MR showed two focal areas of hyperintensity in the cervical cord and suggested a slight enlargement at C2-C3 and C7.

To analyse the epidemiological characteristics and related costs of herpes zoster in Taiwan, a nationally representative cohort of 1,000,000 individuals from the National Health Insurance register was followed up from 2000 to 2006 and their claims data analysed. Overall, 34,280 patients were diagnosed with zoster (incidence 4.89/1000 person-years) and 2944 patients (8.6%) developed post-herpeti...

BACKGROUND Herpes zoster is common and vaccine preventable. Stroke risk may be increased following zoster, but evidence is sparse and could be explained by differences between people with and without zoster. Our objective was to determine if stroke risk is increased following zoster. METHODS Within-person comparisons were undertaken using the self-controlled case-series method and data from t...

Herpes zoster, the latent descendent of the varicella zoster virus, commonly is seen in clinical practice. Healthcare providers must recognize and treat the virus to decrease the incidence of postherpetic neuralgic pain syndrome. Treatment with an antiviral medication regimen should be initiated rapidly for patients who have had lesions for up to 72 hours. Acyclovir has been the treatment of ch...

People with malaria have a reduced immune response not only to the malaria parasite, but also to other organisms and antigens. Clinical studies and animal models have shown that plasmodia can temporarily suppress a host’s humoral and cellular immune response, predisposing the host to super infections with other microorganisms. Plasmodium infections have been shown to induce alterations in immun...