AIM AND BACKGROUND Herpes zoster is a viral disease caused by the reactivation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) which remained latent in the cranial nerve or dorsal root ganglia. Cell-mediated immunity is known to decline with age as part of immunosenescence and can lead to the reactivation of VZV. Whereas herpes zoster is usually mild in healthy young persons, older patients are at increased ri...

Background.  The causes of varicella-zoster virus reactivation and herpes zoster (HZ) are largely unknown. We assessed potential risk factors for HZ, the data for which cannot be obtained from the medical sector. Methods.  We conducted a matched case-control study. We established active surveillance in Olmsted County, Minnesota to identify HZ occurring among persons age ≥50 years during 2010-20...

BACKGROUND Statins are widely used lipid-lowering drugs with immunomodulatory properties that may favor reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus infection. However, whether statins increase the risk of herpes zoster is unknown. METHODS We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of Ontario residents aged ≥ 66 years between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 2010 to examine the asso...

In the context of prospective trials of immunosuppressive drugs in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) nephritis, 83 patients were studied with regard to development of herpes zoster. Herpes zoster was found to occur with high frequency (21%) in patients with SLE nephritis treated with immunosuppressive agents. The course of herpes zoster was benign: no deaths occurred and only 2 of the 18 patie...

When a patient presents with acute voiding dysfunction without a typical skin rash, it may be difficult to make a diagnosis of herpes zoster. Here, we present a case of scrub typhus in a 25-year-old man with the complication of urinary dysfunction. The patient complained of loss of urinary voiding sensation and constipation. After eight days, he had typical herpes zoster eruptions on the sacral...

BACKGROUND Herpes zoster or, as it is commonly called, 'shingles' is a neurocutaneous disease characterised by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV), the virus that causes chickenpox, which is latent in the dorsal spinal ganglia when immunity to VZV declines. It is an extremely painful condition which can often last for many weeks or months, impairing the patient's quality of life. T...

Herpes Zoster is characterized with painful dermatomal blisters, which commonly seen in elderly or immuncompromised people. It caused by varicella zoster virüs (VZV). HIV infection known as a risk factor for herpes and developments of its complications. Cutaneous findings can be the presenting symptom infection. In presence infection, HZ prolong complicate evet recurrence rate increases. recurr...

Erosive pustular dermatosis of the scalp (EPDS) is a rare disorder of the elderly characterized by multiple pustular lesions with erosions and crusting that result in scarring alopecia. EPDS typically develops in aged or sun-damaged skin with a history of trauma. Histopathologically, EPDS is nonspecific, showing atrophic epidermis and chronic inflammation. Bacteriological and mycological invest...

Herpes zoster primarily affects the posterior root ganglions and sensorial nerve fibers, and causes vesicular skin eruptions, radicular pain and loss of sensorial function along the distribution of the affected ganglion. Motor involvement can also be observed. When classical cutaneous lesions are present, the motor paresis consequent to herpes zoster is easily diagnosed. However, diagnosis beco...

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...