Clinical Presentation of Herpes Zoster in Immunocompetent and Immunocompromised Hospitalized Children Treated With Acyclovir.

Herpes zoster, defined as the reactivation of a latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection, used to be a serious disease in immunocompromised children until recently. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical presentation of herpes zoster in hospitalized immunocompromised children compared with hospitalized immunocompetent counterparts. We reviewed the hospital charts of 72 children aged 6 months to 18 years diagnosed with herpes zoster and treated with acyclovir in our department covering a 19-year period. Forty-six of the children were immunocompromised which was mainly due to hematologic diseases. There were no differences in the age at which herpes zoster occurred, length of hospitalization, and the location or extent of the skin eruption. General symptoms were observed more frequently in the hospitalized immunocompetent patients compared with the hospitalized immunocompromised children (80% vs. 56%). The average age at which primary VZV infection occurred was higher among the immunocompromised children than the immunocompetent children with the latter group suffering from significantly more primary VZV infections during infancy. The presentation of herpes zoster in immunocompromised children is similar to that of herpes zoster in hospitalized immunocompetent children.