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Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a pathogenic human herpes virus that causes varicella (chickenpox) as a primary infection, following which it becomes latent in peripheral ganglia. Decades later, the virus may reactivate either spontaneously or after a number of triggering factors to cause herpes zos...

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Autores principales: Kennedy, Peter G. E., Gershon, Anne A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6266119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30400213
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v10110609
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author Kennedy, Peter G. E.
Gershon, Anne A.
author_facet Kennedy, Peter G. E.
Gershon, Anne A.
author_sort Kennedy, Peter G. E.
collection PubMed
description Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a pathogenic human herpes virus that causes varicella (chickenpox) as a primary infection, following which it becomes latent in peripheral ganglia. Decades later, the virus may reactivate either spontaneously or after a number of triggering factors to cause herpes zoster (shingles). Varicella and its complications are more severe in the immunosuppressed. The most frequent and important complication of VZV reactivation is postherpetic neuralgia, the cause of which is unknown and for which treatment is usually ineffective. Reactivation of VZV may also cause a wide variety of neurological syndromes, the most significant of which is a vasculitis, which is treated with corticosteroids and the antiviral drug acyclovir. Other VZV reactivation complications include an encephalitis, segmental motor weakness and myelopathy, cranial neuropathies, Guillain–Barré syndrome, enteric features, and zoster sine herpete, in which the viral reactivation occurs in the absence of the characteristic dermatomally distributed vesicular rash of herpes zoster. There has also been a recent association of VZV with giant cell arteritis and this interesting finding needs further corroboration. Vaccination is now available for the prevention of both varicella in children and herpes zoster in older individuals.
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spelling pubmed-62661192018-12-07 Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection Kennedy, Peter G. E. Gershon, Anne A. Viruses Review Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a pathogenic human herpes virus that causes varicella (chickenpox) as a primary infection, following which it becomes latent in peripheral ganglia. Decades later, the virus may reactivate either spontaneously or after a number of triggering factors to cause herpes zoster (shingles). Varicella and its complications are more severe in the immunosuppressed. The most frequent and important complication of VZV reactivation is postherpetic neuralgia, the cause of which is unknown and for which treatment is usually ineffective. Reactivation of VZV may also cause a wide variety of neurological syndromes, the most significant of which is a vasculitis, which is treated with corticosteroids and the antiviral drug acyclovir. Other VZV reactivation complications include an encephalitis, segmental motor weakness and myelopathy, cranial neuropathies, Guillain–Barré syndrome, enteric features, and zoster sine herpete, in which the viral reactivation occurs in the absence of the characteristic dermatomally distributed vesicular rash of herpes zoster. There has also been a recent association of VZV with giant cell arteritis and this interesting finding needs further corroboration. Vaccination is now available for the prevention of both varicella in children and herpes zoster in older individuals. MDPI 2018-11-02 /pmc/articles/PMC6266119/ /pubmed/30400213 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v10110609 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Kennedy, Peter G. E.
Gershon, Anne A.
Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection
title Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection
title_full Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection
title_fullStr Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection
title_full_unstemmed Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection
title_short Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection
title_sort clinical features of varicella-zoster virus infection
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6266119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30400213
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v10110609
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