TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantification of circulating varicella zoster virus-DNA for the early diagnosis of visceral varicella
AU - Ishizaki, Yoshito
AU - Tezuka, Junichiro
AU - Ohga, Shouichi
AU - Nomura, Akihiko
AU - Suga, Naohiro
AU - Kuromaru, Ryuichi
AU - Kusuhara, Koichi
AU - Mizuno, Yumi
AU - Kasuga, Naoki
AU - Hara, Toshiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan, and by the assistance in Morphology Core Unit (Kyushu University).
PY - 2003/8
Y1 - 2003/8
N2 - Varicella zoster virus (VZV)-DNA was quantified in peripheral blood of 2 patients with visceral varicella due to endogenous reactivation. An 18-year-old male contracted varicella following the courses of chemotherapy for T cell lymphoma. Another 18-year-old male suffered from varicella 16 months after the complete engraftment of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Both patients had past VZV infection, but no recent contact with the disease. Paralytic ileus and ascites preceded the skin lesions. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed > 200 copies of VZV per 1 ml of whole blood before or at the time when cropping vesicles emerged. The viral load reflected their prolonged clinical courses. Similar levels of VZV-DNA were detected in primary varicella patients, but not in herpes zoster patients or immunocompromised children without varicella or zoster. Quantitative monitoring of circulating VZV-DNA may be useful for the diagnosis and assessing the treatment response of visceral varicella in immunocompromized hosts.
AB - Varicella zoster virus (VZV)-DNA was quantified in peripheral blood of 2 patients with visceral varicella due to endogenous reactivation. An 18-year-old male contracted varicella following the courses of chemotherapy for T cell lymphoma. Another 18-year-old male suffered from varicella 16 months after the complete engraftment of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Both patients had past VZV infection, but no recent contact with the disease. Paralytic ileus and ascites preceded the skin lesions. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed > 200 copies of VZV per 1 ml of whole blood before or at the time when cropping vesicles emerged. The viral load reflected their prolonged clinical courses. Similar levels of VZV-DNA were detected in primary varicella patients, but not in herpes zoster patients or immunocompromised children without varicella or zoster. Quantitative monitoring of circulating VZV-DNA may be useful for the diagnosis and assessing the treatment response of visceral varicella in immunocompromized hosts.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0163-4453(03)00004-5
DO - 10.1016/S0163-4453(03)00004-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 12860147
AN - SCOPUS:0041311087
SN - 0163-4453
VL - 47
SP - 133
EP - 138
JO - Journal of Infection
JF - Journal of Infection
IS - 2
ER -
