scholarly journals Is There any Seasonal Influence of Herpes Zoster?

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-17
Author(s):  
Md Habibur Rahman ◽  
Md Rezaul Karim ◽  
Syed Ahsan Tauhid ◽  
Asit Ranjan Das ◽  
Sumitendra Kumar Sarkar

Herpes zoster is a neurocutaneous disease caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV). It results from the reactivation of latent virus in dorsal root or cranial nerve cells following primary infection or vaccination as a consequence of waning of immunity. There may be a possible association between the occurrence of varicella infection and various environmental factors. So this study was designed to know the pattern of clinical presentation, seasonal variations and epidemiological factors of Herpes Zoster patients. A total of 172 Herpes Zoster out of 27979 patients of different skin diseases attending at Dhamrai Upazilla Hospital in Bangladesh were studied between March 2010 to June 2013. The frequency of occurrence of Herpes Zoster was 0.61%. Among the patients, 57.56% were male and 42.44% were female between the ages of 5 months to 90 years, with mean age 39 years. Nearly half of the patients (48.26%) were in between 30-59 years age. The patients were continued to report throughout the year with a surge in rainy season. Majority of the patients (65.70%) had thoracic dermatome followed by cervical and lumbar distribution, each of them 11%. A large-scale and prospective community based study is recommended to enrich the findings as well as a complete clinical and epidemiological picture of Herpes zoster in Bangladesh.Faridpur Med. Coll. J. Jan 2017;12(1): 14-17

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (20;2) ◽  
pp. E209-E220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Younis Makharita

Herpes zoster (HZ) is a painful, blistering skin eruption in a dermatomal distribution caused by reactivation of a latent varicella zoster virus in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication of acute herpes zoster (AHZ). Severe prodrome, greater acute pain and dermatomal injury, and the density of the eruption are the risk factors and predictors for developing PHN. PHN has a substantial effect on the quality of life; many patients develop severe physical, occupational, social, and psychosocial disabilities as a result of the unceasing pain. The long-term suffering and the limited efficacy of the currently available medications can lead to drug dependency, hopelessness, depression, and even suicide. Family and society are also affected regarding cost and lost productivity. The pathophysiology of PHN remains unclear. Viral reactivation in the dorsal root ganglion and its spread through the affected nerve result in severe ganglionitis and neuritis, which induce a profound sympathetic stimulation and vasoconstriction of the endoneural arterioles, which decreases the blood flow in the intraneural capillary bed resulting in nerve ischemia. Our rationale is based on previous studies which have postulated that the early interventions could reduce repetitive painful stimuli and prevent vasospasm of the endoneural arterioles during the acute phase of HZ. Hence, they might attenuate the central sensitization, prevent the ischemic nerve damage, and finally account for PHN prevention. The author introduces a new Ten-step Model for the prevention of PHN. The idea of this newly suggested approach is to increase the awareness of the health care team and the community about the nature of HZ and its complications, especially in the high-risk groups. Besides, it emphasizes the importance of the prompt antiviral therapy and the early sympathetic blockades for preventing PHN. Key words: Acute herpes zoster, prevention, post-herpetic neuralgia, sympathetic blockade, tenstep model


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-91
Author(s):  
Hardiyanti ◽  
R Ratianingsih ◽  
Hajar

Varicella and herpes zoster are two infectious skin diseases of human that caused by varicella zoster virus, where varicella disease is a primary infection that often infected younger people while herpes zoster disease is a recurrent disease that often infected older people because of reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus. If the pain caused by herpes zoster after recurrent phase is a appeared then the condition is known as postherpetic neuralgia. This study builds a mathematical model of primary infection (varicella disease) and recurrent infection (herpes zoster disease) developed from the SIR model (Susceptible, Infected, Recovered). The human population is divided into seven subpopulations, namely susceptible, infection, recovered of varicella, herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia subpopulation. Stability analysis at the critical point by linearization method gives a critical point 𝑇1 that guaranted to exist and unstable if 𝛼 𝜇(𝛽1+𝜇) 𝐴 , while the critical point 𝑇1 does not have any reqruitment. Stability analysis at the endemic disease-free critical point is represented 𝑇1 that will be unstable if 𝑇2 exist and stable 𝑇1 if 𝑇2 exist. Numerical simulations by simulated to describe such temporary disease-free conditions and an endemic stable conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. e39-e42
Author(s):  
Matthew Patel ◽  
Rachel Bierbrier ◽  
Katina Tzanetos

Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) primary infection causes chickenpox, often in young children, and is characterized by vesicular lesions on the face, limbs and trunk. In immunocompetent hosts, the infection is usually mild and self-limited. Following infection the virus remains dormant in the dorsal root ganglia but can reactivate, replicate and cause Herpes zoster (shingles), a painful vesicular eruption in a single dermatomal distribution.1, 2 Although Herpes zoster typically presents with this characteristic rash, there are reports of zoster sine herpete herpes zoster without the presence of a rash but with pain.1 Neurologic complications, including meningitis, encephalitis or myelitis can occur with acute infection or reactivation of VZV, but is uncommon in immunocompetent hosts, and even more rare without an exanthema.3 This report describes a case of reactivation VZV meningitis without any viral exanthema in a young healthy male.  


Author(s):  
Rukma L. Sharma ◽  
Rekha Sharma

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Herpes zoster results from the reactivation of varicella-zoster virus lying dormant in the dorsal root ganglia following an earlier primary infection (chickenpox), usually in childhood. The reactivation occurs due to multifactorial causes leading to decreased immunity.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This study was conducted on 109 cases of herpes zoster. Patient’s particulars were noted. A detailed history was recorded; morphology, the site and side of skin lesions were recorded. Any other associated diseases were noted.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Out of 109 patients 66 were male and 43 were female. The total of 53 (48.6%) patients were under the age of 40 years and 56 (51.4%) patients above 40 years. Bhutias were affected in highest number (18.4%) followed by Sharma community (15.6%). The ophthalmic division of trigeminal nerve was the most commonly affected single nerve with 13.8% followed by T10 and T7 dermatome at 9.17% and 7.3% respectively. Thoracic nerves the most commonly involved thoracic nerves with 44 cases. Single dermatomal eruptions were found in 55 patients. The dissemination of herpes zoster was although very rare but was present in three patients. Type 2 diabetes mellitus was the common associated systemic illness with 10.09% of patients.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> From this study it was revealed that both young adults and older age group people were affected almost equally. The male: female ratio was 1.5:1 with Bhutia community being mostly affected. Thoracic dermatome was the most common dermatome involved and in half the patients some form of associated disease noted.</p>


2018 ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
Jianguo Cheng

Herpes zoster is caused by reactivation of the latent varicella zoster virus (VZV) that causes chicken pox. VZV remains dormant in the dorsal root and cranial ganglia and can reactivate later in a person’s life and cause herpes zoster, which appears predominantly in older adults, but may also occur in those that are immunocompromised. Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is defined as pain in the affected dermatome that is still present 1 month after development of the vesicles. Adults older than 50 should receive the herpes zoster vaccine as part of routine medical care. Shingrix is a new vaccine recently approved and recommended by the FDA, which is a non-live, subunit vaccine. In contrast to Zostavax, Shingrix is 97% effective against shingles and 91% effective against PHN for people 50 and older. The diagnosis of herpes zoster can be made on the basis of characteristic skin lesions and pain and itching in the involved dermatome. During the acute phase, an antiviral given within 72 hours of onset helps reduce pain and complications and shorten the course of the disease. The diagnosis of PHN is based on a history of herpes zoster, typical dermatomal distribution of the pain, and hyperalgesia and/or allodynia on physical examination. First-line pharmacotherapy includes gabapentin or pregabalin, tricyclic antidepressants, and SNRIs. Combination therapies are often necessary. Interventional options such as epidural injections, paravertebral blocks, selective nerve root blocks, sympathetic nerve blocks, intercostal nerve blocks, trigeminal nerve blocks, spinal cord or dorsal root ganglion stimulation, and intrathecal therapy may be considered in refractory cases.


2003 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 675-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. MACINTYRE ◽  
C. P. CHU ◽  
M. A. BURGESS

The aims of the study were to compare the burden of varicella and herpes zoster in Australia. No national surveillance exists for varicella or herpes zoster. We used hospital morbidity data from 1993–9 and pharmaceutical prescribing data from 1995–9.In the financial year 1998/99, there were 4718 hospitalizations for zoster compared to 1991 for varicella. For varicella the mean age of patients was 15 years compared to 69 years for zoster. The mean length of stay in hospital was 4·2 days for varicella and 12·7 days for zoster. Varicella accounted for 8396 (3726 with principal diagnosis varicella) bed days compared to 26266 (5382 with principal diagnosis of zoster) for zoster. The in-hospital case-fatality rate was 0·4% for varicella and 1% for zoster. In 1999, 59200 community-based cases of zoster were treated with antivirals. We estimate that 157266 cases of zoster occurred in the community in 1999, a rate of 830 per 100000 population.Herpes zoster has a higher burden of disease than varicella, and must be a component of disease surveillance in order to determine the full impact of vaccination on the epidemiology of varicella zoster virus (VZV).


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. e228639
Author(s):  
Mantu Jain ◽  
Prabhas Ranjan Tripathy ◽  
Chitta Ranjan Mohanty

Herpes zoster is a clinical manifestation of reactivation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) that lies dormant in the dorsal root ganglia after a past primary infection. It can be associated with severe pain, a crop of vesicles in typical dermatomal distribution but the neuralgic pain persists long, making the patient uncomfortable and often disturbing patient’s sleep. There are cases reported after trauma or post surgeries that are mainly related to organ transplant or malignancy. In the literature, there is a solitary report of VZV infection along the sciatic nerve post ipsilateral hip and contralateral knee joint replacement. Here, we report a VZV infection in post knee replacement setting along the L2-3 dermatomal distribution.


1979 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 255-259
Author(s):  
Alan W. Hopefl

Of all the infectious complications which plague the immunosuppressed patient, viral infections are the least amenable to drug therapy. Disseminated herpes zoster infections are relatively uncommon in immunosuppressed patients, but affect as many as 25 percent of patients with Hodgkin's disease. Herpes zoster infections are caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), a DNA containing virus which is the etiological agent of both chickenpox and shingles. Vidarabine (ara-A) is a synthetic nucleoside which inhibits viral induced DNA-dependent DNA polymerase, and therefore viral replication. While vidarabine is remarkably nontoxic at a daily dose of 10 mg/kg, there is at present little evidence that early therapy of disseminated herpes zoster prevents visceral disease, further dissemination, or affects the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia. Initial studies employing human leukocyte interferon show promise, but large scale trials have been hampered by limited supplies of interferon.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Salahuddin Shah ◽  
Masuda Begum ◽  
Mujahida Rahman ◽  
Saqi Md Abdul Baqi

Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is a member of Herpesviridae family. It can cause two distinct clinical entities: varicella (chickenpox) and herpes zoster (shingles).1,2Herpes Zoster(HZ) is painful, vesicular rash in a limited area on one side of body due to the reactivation of latent VZV in dorsal root ganglia.Involvement of three or more dermatomes is known as disseminated zoster and seen in immunocompromised individuals.It can occur at any age. The risk of herpes zoster increases with old age and in patients with reduced cell mediated immunity such as haematological malignancies, immunosuppressive therapies, HIV infection and transplant recipients. The incidence of herpes zoster has been variably reported as 2% in Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), 13% in Chronic lymphocytic leukemia(CLL) and 30% in transplantrecipients.3-5This was a rare case of disseminated herpes zoster in a patient with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemiadeveloped while on chemotherapy progressing to prolonged myelosuppression.Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2018; 44(1):59-61


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document