Varicella Zoster Virus Vasculopathy After Kidney Transplantation

A case of varicella zoster infection in kidney transplant recipient using immunosuppressant

Kidney transplant recipients must take lifelong immunosuppression to prevent acute or chronic allograft injury. However, they are also at risk for opportunistic infections due to compromised immune cell functionality. Disseminated HZ in kidney transplant recipients can result in a very high overall mortality rate of up to 30%. Here we described a 23-year-old male patient who presented to the emergency room with a complaint of high-grade fever, chills, and non-dermatomal lesion of varicella zoster skin infection that affected the face and trunk. After investigation the patient was diagnosed with chickenpox clinically and was managed with complete recovery and early hospital discharge.

Pneumonia and central nervous system infection caused by reactivation of varicella-zoster virus in a living-donor kidney transplantation patient: case report and review of the literature

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) typically causes herpes zoster in the elderly due to reactivation, but immunocompromised individuals may develop organ damage such as pneumonia with a poor prognosis. We herein report a case of pneumonia and central nervous system (CNS) infection caused by reactivation of VZV in a 50-year-old man who had received a living-donor kidney transplant. We also conducted a literature review of adult cases with pneumonia or CNS infection caused by VZV after kidney transplantation. It showed that there are cases in which eruptions appeared upto 21 days after the onset of the disease and others in which eruptions did not appear at any time during the clinical course. Furthermore, there may be a wide variety of intervals from kidney transplantation to VZV infection (including both primary infection and reactivation of VZV), ranging from 2 weeks to 11 years. Therefore, it should be kept in mind that kidney transplant patients are always at high risk of VZV infection, as early recognition and treatment of the disease improves its prognosis. Although the diagnosis of varicella pneumonia is generally made by PCR test of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, our case experience suggests that the less invasive PCR test of sputum may be useful for rapid and accurate diagnosis. The efficacy of inactivated recombinant zoster vaccine in immunocompromised individuals at high risk of reactivation of VZV also needs to be examined in the future.