INCREASED HERPES ZOSTER CASES IN BRAZIL RELATED TO THE COVID-19 ERA

OBJECTIVES: Recently, studies have discussed reports of patients positive for COVID-19 with skin lesions and vesicobullous oral lesions consistent with the manifestations of herpes zoster (HZ) and the involvement of this manifestations with the COVID-19 infection. The objective of this study was to compare the data from the Unified Health System on the number of diagnoses of HZ the period from March to September in each year 2017, 2018 and 2019 with the same period of 2020 in all Brazilian regions. STUDY DESIGN: The data were extracted from the public database of the Ministry of Health of Brazil (DATASUS) and a descriptive analysis of the numbers was performed per million inhabitants and by percentage comparing the prepandemic period with the pandemic period. RESULTS: The data showed an increase in the number of HZ diagnoses over the years and the negative impact of COVID-19, revealing an average increase corresponding to an extra 10.7 cases per million inhabitants (+35.4%) during the pandemic in Brazil. CONCLUSIONS: Although the association between HZ and COVID-19 is not well stablished, we observed an increase in HZ cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, which suggests a correlation between these diseases.