Herpes zoster in children: A retrospective evaluation of 128 cases

Abstract

Introduction: Herpes zoster (HZ) infection is usually encountered in adults and immunocompromised individuals, whereas its incidence in healthy children is relatively uncommon. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics, complications, and treatment aspects of HZ infection in children. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study of children under 16 years who were clinically diagnosed HZ and attended the dermatology outpatient department between January 2018 and December 2019. Results: One hundred and twenty-eight patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was found to be 10.38 ± 4.04 years. 70 (54.7%) were boys and 58 (45.3%) were girls. Comorbid diseases were detected in 8 patients (6.3%). Two of these patients had malignancy, 2 had a behavioral disorder, 1 had an anxiety disorder, 1 had epilepsy, 1 had atopic dermatitis, and 1 had osteogenesis imperfecta. Antiviral treatment was not given to 53 (41.4%) of the patients, and they recovered only with symptomatic treatment. Postherpetic neuralgia and other complications of HZ were not seen. Conclusion: The incidence of HZ infection is less common in children as compared to adults, but the number of cases have increased lately. Underlying immunosuppression was previously considered to cause HZ in children. However, our findings, on the contrary, indicate that immunosuppression is not always associated with HZ. Hence, it is not mandatory to investigate every pediatric patient with HZ unless the history or examination reveals relevant findings of an immunosuppressive disease.

Keywords

• children
• complication
• healthy
• herpes zoster
• immunosuppression