The authors describe an acyclovir-resistant varicella zoster virus infection in a pediatric patient after hematopoietic stem cell transplant, the use of foscarnet as salvage therapy, and review the literature to clarify the pediatric experience with foscarnet in this setting. A novel thymidine kinase mutation is described, along with a new phenotypic assay for characterizing acyclovir resistanc...

CLE: cutaneous lupus erythematosus HZ: herpes zoster SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus TLE: tumid lupus erythematosus VZV: varicella zoster virus INTRODUCTION Topical corticosteroids are commonly used in the treatment of a wide range of skin manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Patients with SLE are also known to have an increased risk of herpes zoster (HZ). Here we present a r...

Seven outbreaks of disease characterized by a pustular rash and suspected to have been caused by human monkeypox virus were investigated. The outbreaks occurred between February and August 2001 in the province of Equateur in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreaks involved a total of 31 persons and caused five deaths. Specimens from 14 patients were available and were analyzed by electr...

Varicella-zoster virus can cause a distinct congenital syndrome, a potentially fatal neonatal infection and life-threatening maternal illness. Physicians can reduce morbidity from these conditions by advising nonimmune pregnant women to avoid exposure to chickenpox and herpes zoster and, when indicated, by promptly administering varicella-zoster immune globulin. When prevention fails, acyclovir...

Five months after 2 siblings were immunized with varicella vaccine, 1 developed zoster. Two weeks later the second sibling got a mild case of chicken pox. Virus isolated from the latter was found to be vaccine type. Thus, the vaccine strain was transmitted from the vaccinee with zoster to his sibling. Vaccinees who later develop zoster must be considered contagious. varicella-zoster, zoster, va...

A case of AIDS with varicella zoster virus fulminant necrotizing encephalitis associated with cytomegalovirus ependymitis-subependymitis and a periventricular Epstein-Barr virus-related lymphoma is described. The patient had no herpes zoster cutaneous eruptions and died three days after the onset of symptoms. Varicella zoster virus and cytomegalovirus antigens were found by immunohistochemistry...

We performed an ecological study using sentinel consultation data from a medical deputising service to assess the impact of increasing coverage with childhood varicella vaccine on the incidence risk of varicella and zoster in the population served by the deputising service in Victoria, Australia from 1998 to 2012. Following a successful vaccination programme, the incidence of varicella in Austr...

A 32 bp deletion in the chemokine receptor CCR5 gene modulates HIV-1 infection. However, whether this CCR5 gene variation modifies immunity to common herpesvirus infections is unknown. We investigated whole blood IgG concentrations of 157 normal adult blood donors. Also we assessed whether the 32 bp deletion of CCR5 (delta32CCR5) was associated with circulating IgG to four herpesviruses: varice...

Herpes zoster (Shingles; Zona) is an acute infectious skin disease that is caused by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV). After the initial infection (chickenpox) or vaccination, the virus remains inactive or latent in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG); when decreasing cell mediated immunity (CMI) occurs, the virus is reactivated from a latent phase to a lytic phase and frequently repl...

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the cause of varicella and zoster, is divided into five major clades and four provisional clades, the latter of which have been rarely reported worldwide to date. We present a varicella outbreak by the provisional clade VI within an Indian couple in Germany returning from a trip to Amsterdam. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of varicella by the ...