Where is reactivation after a long latency?

Uncommon presentation and complications of herpes zoster infection involving the cervical, vagus and accessory nerves which caused a delay in diagnosis and treatment

A 70-year-old man with a history of invasive anal squamous cell carcinoma treated with excision and chemoradiation presented to the emergency department with right-sided neck pain and submandibular lymphadenopathy. CT imaging of the head and neck was unrevealing. The patient eventually developed cranial nerves X and XI dysfunction, manifesting as severe vocal cord paralysis (dysphonia), dysphagia, asymmetric palate elevation/deviation and trapezius muscle atrophy, in addition to scalene muscle atrophy. After an extensive workup, the patient's symptoms were determined to be due to sequelae of varicella zoster infection, which was confirmed with antibody titers. The patient's dysphagia and dysphonia eventually improved with vocal cord medialisation injection and Botox injection. However, despite delayed treatment with acyclovir and valacyclovir, the patient continued to have neuropathic pain and exhibit signs of CN X and CN XI paresis, in addition to scalene muscle atrophy.

Imaging manifestations on sequential magnetic resonance imaging in pharyngolaryngeal involvement by varicella zoster virus

Clarifying temporal changes in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a good chance to understand the pathology of neural lesions; however, such information is scarce in varicella zoster virus (VZV) neuropathies for the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves. Here, we present the changes in sequential MR images of such a pathology over a period of 12 months from symptom onset.A 27-year-old woman with difficulty in swallowing and hoarseness due to a palatal palsy and arytenoid fixation on the left presented 2 days after onset. MRI revealed a lesion which largely filled the left jugular foramen on T2-weighted images (T2-WI) with high diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) signals, which has never been previously described, on the 3rd day after onset. The DWI signals were highest on day 3, then deteriorated over 2 months until the signal was only detectable at the intracranial level, but not in the jugular foramen. The glossopharyngeal nerve had returned to normal by 2 months.The time course of the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerve swelling detected on T2-WI suggests that nerve swelling reduces over several months, even though the paralytic symptoms persist. Furthermore, the high DWI signal suggests that nerve swelling was caused by edematous swelling of the nerve fibers, rather than fiber disruption with water displacement in the extracellular space. These findings may provide good clues to speculate on the dynamically changing pathology of VZV neuropathies of the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves.

Looking back to move forward: a twenty-year audit of herpes zoster in Asia-Pacific

Background

Herpes zoster (HZ) is a prevalent viral disease that inflicts substantial morbidity and associated healthcare and socioeconomic burdens. Current treatments are not fully effective, especially among the most vulnerable patients. Although widely recommended, vaccination against HZ is not routine; barriers in Asia-Pacific include long-standing neglect of adult immunisation and sparse local data. To address knowledge gaps, raise awareness, and disseminate best practice, we reviewed recent data and guidelines on HZ from the Asia-Pacific region.

Methods

We searched PubMed, Scopus, and World Health Organization databases for articles about HZ published from 1994 to 2014 by authors from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. We selected articles about epidemiology, burden, complications, comorbidities, management, prevention, and recommendations/guidelines. Internet searches retrieved additional HZ immunisation guidelines.

Results

From 4007 retrieved articles, we screened-out 1501 duplicates and excluded 1264 extraneous articles, leaving 1242 unique articles. We found guidelines on adult immunisation from Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand.

HZ epidemiology in Asia-Pacific is similar to elsewhere; incidence rises with age and peaks at around 70 years – lifetime risk is approximately one-third. Average incidence of 3–10/1000 person-years is rising at around 5% per year. The principal risk factors are immunosenescence and immunosuppression. HZ almost always causes pain, and post-herpetic neuralgia is its most common complication. Half or more of hospitalised HZ patients have post-herpetic neuralgia, secondary infections, or inflammatory sequelae that are occasionally fatal. These disease burdens severely diminish patients’ quality of life and incur heavy healthcare utilisation.

Conclusions

Several countries have abundant data on HZ, but others, especially in South-East Asia, very few. However, Asia-Pacific countries generally lack data on HZ vaccine safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness. Physicians treating HZ and its complications in Asia-Pacific face familiar challenges but, with a vast aged population, Asia bears a unique and growing burden of disease. Given the strong rationale for prevention, most adult immunisation guidelines include HZ vaccine, yet it remains underused. We urge all stakeholders to give higher priority to adult immunisation in general and HZ in particular.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-017-2198-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.