All issues > Volume 40(8); 1997

Case Report

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1997;40(8):1169-1172. Published online August 15, 1997.

A Case of Herpes Zoster in Premature Infant

Kug Hwan KH Kim¹, Young Il YI Ro¹, Eun Seok ES Yang¹, Kyung Rae KR Moon¹, Sang Kee SK Park¹, Byung Su BS Jung²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Kwangju, Kore
²Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Kwangju, Kore

Abstract

Herpes zoster, an inflammatory human disease caused by varicella zoster virus, is characterized by papulovesicular lesions along the distribution of a sensory nerve. We experienced a herpes zoster in 23 day old premature infant. The papules were distributed on his skin corresponding to the dermatomes innervated by the left Th3-Th4. The diagnosis of herpes zoster was made with dermatomal distribution of typical skin lesions, pathologic findings of eosinophilic intranuclear body and multinucleated giant cells in skin lesion(biopsy specimen). Detection of VZV specific IgG and IgM in the sera of patient was carried out. He was successfully treated with topical and intravenous administration of acyclovir. We report this case with a review of related literatures.

Keywords :Herpes zoster, Premature infant