{"title":"Varicella-zoster Virus Reactivation with Severe Pneumonia Following Convalescence from Coronavirus Disease: A Case Report and Literature Review.","authors":"Reo Tome, Seishiro Arima, Morikazu Akamine, Hiroe Hashioka, Wakako Arakaki, Wakaki Kami, Daijiro Nabeya, Shuhei Ideguchi, Hideta Nakamura, Takeshi Kinjo, Masashi Nakamatsu, Makoto Furugen, Kazuya Miyagi, Syusaku Haranaga, Kazuko Yamamoto","doi":"10.2169/internalmedicine.4932-24","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An association between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and concomitant varicella-zoster virus (VZV) reactivation has been proposed. We herein report a case of severe VZV pneumonia in a 73-year-old man who underwent corticosteroid tapering after recovering from COVID-19 and presented with fever, vesicular rashes, and hypoxemia. Chest computed tomography revealed ground-glass opacities (GGOs) and multiple granular shadows. Varicella-zoster virus was detected in the skin and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. The patient was diagnosed with disseminated VZV reactivation and thereafter successfully recovered with acyclovir treatment. Physicians should consider the possibility of VZV reactivation when GGOs or patchy nodular shadows appear during the course of patients with COVID-19.</p>","PeriodicalId":13719,"journal":{"name":"Internal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"3051-3056"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Internal Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2169/internalmedicine.4932-24","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/4/5 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
An association between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and concomitant varicella-zoster virus (VZV) reactivation has been proposed. We herein report a case of severe VZV pneumonia in a 73-year-old man who underwent corticosteroid tapering after recovering from COVID-19 and presented with fever, vesicular rashes, and hypoxemia. Chest computed tomography revealed ground-glass opacities (GGOs) and multiple granular shadows. Varicella-zoster virus was detected in the skin and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. The patient was diagnosed with disseminated VZV reactivation and thereafter successfully recovered with acyclovir treatment. Physicians should consider the possibility of VZV reactivation when GGOs or patchy nodular shadows appear during the course of patients with COVID-19.
期刊介绍:
Internal Medicine is an open-access online only journal published monthly by the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.
Articles must be prepared in accordance with "The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (see Annals of Internal Medicine 108: 258-265, 1988), must be contributed solely to the Internal Medicine, and become the property of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. Statements contained therein are the responsibility of the author(s). The Society reserves copyright and renewal on all published material and such material may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the Society.