Varicella zoster virus infections in neurological patients: a clinical study.
Average rating
Cast your vote
You can rate an item by clicking the amount of stars they wish to award to this item.
When enough users have cast their vote on this item, the average rating will also be shown.
Star rating
Your vote was cast
Thank you for your feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Authors
Skripuletz, ThomasPars, Kaweh
Schulte, Alina
Schwenkenbecher, Philipp
Yildiz, Özlem
Ganzenmueller, Tina
Kuhn, Maike
Spreer, Annette
Wurster, Ulrich
Pul, Refik
Stangel, Martin
Sühs, Kurt-Wolfram
Trebst, Corinna
Issue Date
2018-05-25
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Varicella zoster virus (VZV) reactivation is a common infectious disease in neurology and VZV the second most frequent virus detected in encephalitis. This study investigated characteristics of clinical and laboratory features in patients with VZV infection. Two hundred eighty two patients with VZV reactivation that were hospitalized in the department of neurology in the time from 2005 to 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. Results from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis were available from 85 patients. Trigeminal rash was the most common clinical manifestation, followed by segmental rash, CNS infection, facial nerve palsy, postherpetic neuralgia, and radiculitis. MRI of the brain performed in 25/33 patients with encephalitis/meningitis did not show any signs of infection in the brain parenchyma. Only one patient showed contrast enhancement in the hypoglossal nerve. General signs of infection such as fever or elevated CRP values were found in only half of the patients. Furthermore, rash was absent in a quarter of patients with CNS infection and facial nerve palsy, and thus, infection could only be proven by CSF analysis. Although slight inflammatory CSF changes occurred in few patients with isolated rash, the frequency was clearly higher in patients with CNS infection and facial nerve palsy. Monosegmental herpes zoster is often uncomplicated and a diagnostic lumbar puncture is not essential. In contrast, CSF analysis is an essential diagnostic tool in patients with skin lesions and cranial nerve or CNS affection. In patients with neuro-psychiatric symptoms and inflammatory CSF changes analysis for VZV should be performed even in the absence of skin lesions.Affiliation
TWINCORE, Zentrum für experimentelle und klinischeInfektionsforschung GmbH, Feodor-Lynen-Str. 7, 30625 Hannover, Germany.PubMed ID
29801466Type
ArticleISSN
1471-2334ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1186/s12879-018-3137-2
Scopus Count
The following license files are associated with this item:
- Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States
Related articles
- Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection.
- Authors: Kennedy PGE, Gershon AA
- Issue date: 2018 Nov 2
- Mass-spectrometric profiling of cerebrospinal fluid reveals metabolite biomarkers for CNS involvement in varicella zoster virus reactivation.
- Authors: Kuhn M, Sühs KW, Akmatov MK, Klawonn F, Wang J, Skripuletz T, Kaever V, Stangel M, Pessler F
- Issue date: 2018 Jan 17
- The Neurotropic Varicella Zoster Virus: a Case of Isolated Abducens Nerve Palsy without Skin Rash in a Young Healthy Woman.
- Authors: Luís MEV, Hipólito-Fernandes CD, Lopes Moniz J, Ferreira JT
- Issue date: 2021 Sep
- Varicella-Zoster Virus Meningitis and Encephalitis: An Understated Cause of Central Nervous System Infections.
- Authors: Alvarez JC, Alvarez J, Tinoco J, Mellado P, Miranda H, Ferrés M, Forero J, Álvarez C
- Issue date: 2020 Nov 20
- Clinical features of aseptic meningitis with varicella zoster virus infection diagnosed by next-generation sequencing: case reports.
- Authors: Chen L, Xu Y, Liu C, Huang H, Zhong X, Ma C, Zhao H, Chen Y
- Issue date: 2020 Jun 22