Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 6 , Pages 792-795, June 2009

Herpes Zoster and Meningitis Resulting From Reactivation of Varicella Vaccine Virus in an Immunocompetent Child

  • Sujit Iyer, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Emergency Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
    • The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
    • University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Sujit Iyer, MD, Division of Emergency Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4399; 215-590-1961, fax 215-590-4454
    • ,
  • Manoj K. Mittal, MD, MRCP (UK)

      Affiliations

    • Division of Emergency Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
    • The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
    • University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
    • ,
  • Richard L. Hodinka, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology and Clinical Virology Laboratory, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
    • University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

Received 28 August 2008; received in revised form 12 October 2008; accepted 20 October 2008. published online 25 November 2008.

Herpes zoster complicated by meningitis has been mainly reported in immunocompromised patients after reactivation of wild-type varicella-zoster virus. We present one of the first cases of aseptic meningitis after herpes zoster caused by reactivation of vaccine-type varicella-zoster virus in an immunocompetent child. We also highlight the increasing role of both wild-type and vaccine strains of varicella-zoster virus as a cause of viral meningoencephalitis and the use of appropriate laboratory tools to rapidly and accurately identify the virus in order to provide prompt patient care and management.

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 Supervising editor: David M. Jaffe, MD

 Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. The authors have stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.

 Publication date: Available online November 22, 2008.

 Reprints not available from the authors.

PII: S0196-0644(08)01907-0

doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.10.023

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 6 , Pages 792-795, June 2009

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