COVID-19 Rekindling Herpes Zoster in an Immunocompetent Patient

Piyush Puri; Pankul Parnami; Pal Satyajit Singh Athwal; Sima Kumari; Chandan Kumar; Yogita Suri

doi:10.7759/cureus.18049

COVID-19 Rekindling Herpes Zoster in an Immunocompetent Patient

Cureus. 2021 Sep 17;13(9):e18049. doi: 10.7759/cureus.18049. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Authors

Piyush Puri¹, Pankul Parnami², Pal Satyajit Singh Athwal³, Sima Kumari⁴, Chandan Kumar⁵, Yogita Suri⁶

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, Rama Medical College Hospital & Research Center, Hapur, IND.
² Paediatrics, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belagavi, IND.
³ Internal Medicine, Saint Agnes Medical Center, Fresno, USA.
⁴ Internal Medicine, Patna Medical College, Patna, IND.
⁵ Gastroenterology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, IND.
⁶ Surgery, Saraswathi Institute of Medical Sciences, Hapur, IND.

Abstract

During the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, sundry dermatological conditions related to COVID-19 pneumonia have been published. COVID-19 primarily affects the respiratory system, but secondarily it also affects the heart, kidney, brain, skin, spinal cord, etc. Herpes Zoster (HZ) is considerably important morbidity associated with COVID-19 pneumonia. Recrudescence of HZ occurs because of the latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) predominantly because of the decline in cell-mediated immunity (CMI). Abating CMI is due to the increasing age, but could also occur if the patient is suffering from an immunosuppressive disease or is using immunosuppressive drugs. In our case, the patient had no lymphopenia unlike the other cases, yet still, he developed HZ. HZ is associated with post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), HZ ophthalmicus (HZO), and cerebral arteritis increasing morbidity and mortality, especially in elderly people and those who are immunocompromised.

Keywords: covid; covid 19; covid and skin; herpes simplex; shingles.

Publication types

Case Reports