• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.85-88
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• 2005

Encephalitis is known as a rare complication of varicella zoster virus (VZV) reactivation. It is usually regarded as a complication of a cutaneous infection in patients with impaired cellular immunity. The reported incidence of herpetic motor involvement range between 0.5 and 31%, but is possibly more frequent as the weakness is readily obscured by pain. A 53-years-old woman, who presented with severe shoulder pain, fever, headache and seizure, which developed the day after skin eruptions, also developed motor paresis 7 days after the seizure. Her cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was VZV-Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negative, but VZV specific IgG antibody positive, and her brain MRI was found to be normal. With the early diagnosis and proper treatment, such as intravenous administration of acyclovir, stellate ganglion block and Yamamoto New Scalp Stimulation (YNSS), the patient completely recovered, without psychoneurological sequelae. Herein, we present this case, with a discussion of the relevant literature on the incidence, pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of central nervous system VZV involvement.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.291-295
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• 2011

Varicella, more commonly known as chickenpox, is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. It is a common benign childhood illness. In adults, Varicella is uncommon but is more severely associated with complications including pneumonia, hepatitis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, encephalitis and myocarditis. A serious and life-threatening complication is the development of varicella-zoster virus pneumonia (VZVP). Although VZVP is well described in immunocompromised hosts, it is rarely seen in immunocompetent adults. The VZVP in healthy adults is more prevalent in cigarette smokers and during pregnancy. However, reports of VZVP in healthy adults are scarce in Korea. The authors report here a case of VZVP in an immunocompetent adult and present a literature review.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.266-269
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• 1997

Herpes zoster is a relatively common disease caused by Varicella-Zoster virus and characterized by a vesicular dermatomal rash and a variety of neurologic manifestations. These neurologic symptoms include herpes zoster neuralgia, myelitis, encephalitis, cranial arteritis, segmental and rarely polyradiculitis. This report is a case of a 57-year-old female with herpes zoster paresis affecting the arm and hand. Herpetic pain was much relieved after continuous cervical epidural blockade. However, fifty days after onset of ailment, she complained motor paralysis. EMG of muscles innervated by the left $C_8$ and $T_1$ roots revealed high frequency denervation potentials and large amplitude polyphasic motor units. We recommended physiotherapy and aggressive exercise therapy of the hand. After eighty days of therapy, denervated spontaneous activities disappeared on EMG. Clinically, strength of muscles had nearly recovered to 75% of normal strength in left hand intrinsics.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.65-69
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• 2019

Ramsay Hunt syndrome with the complication of encephalitis or meningoencephalitis is rarely reported and uncommon in immunocompetent patients. The radiological manifestations of such cases usually involve the cerebellum and brainstem or exhibit the absence of any abnormality. We report a case of a 78-year-old immunocompetent man hospitalized with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, who later developed meningoencephalitis. The cerebrospinal fluid-study excluded other causes of meningoencephalitis, and the clinical diagnosis indicated varicella zoster virus meningoencephalitis. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed increased signal intensities in the bilateral temporal lobe, midbrain, and pons on T2-weighted imaging, and T2 fluid attenuated inversion recovery and contralateral asymmetric pachymeningeal enhancement. Contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging revealed ipsilateral facial nerve enhancement.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.208-215
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• 2020

Zoster sine herpete (ZSH) is one of the atypical clinical manifestations of herpes zoster (HZ), which stems from infection and reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in the cranial nerve, spinal nerve, viscera, or autonomic nerve. Patients with ZSH display variable symptoms, such as neuralgia, however, different from HZ, ZSH show no zoster, which makes clinical diagnosis difficult. ZSH not only causes initial symptoms, such as neuropathic pain in the affected nerve, Bell palsy, and Ramsay Hunt syndrome, but also postherpetic neuralgia and fatal complications such as VZV encephalitis and stroke. The misdiagnosis of ZSH and tardy antiviral treatment may lead to severe ZSH sequelae. We review the publications related to ZSH, especially its diagnosis with VZV DNA and/or anti-VZV immunoglobulin (IgG and IgM). More work about ZSH, especially ZSH epidemiological survey and guidelines for its diagnosis and treatment, are needed because most of the present studies are case reports.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.171-178
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• 2000

Herpes simplex virus, Varicella zoster virus and Human herpes virus-6 caused central nervous system infections and latent infections but there is no data of the 3 viruses being tested from the same cerebrospinal fluid samples with aseptic meningitis or encephalitis in adults patients. These viruses produced similar neurologic symptoms but difficulties existed in differentiating of etiologic agents and therefore the viruses needed to be detected in the early state. Herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSVE) in adults, if not treated promptly was fatal. If treated with antiviral drugs in the early phase of encephalitis, neurologic sequales decreased by 65%. Recently, a PCR method for detection of HSVE with CSF was developed. VZV primary and secondary infections caused neurologic symptoms of encephalitis or meningitis. The second frequency of adult encephalitis that caused VZV were reported. HHV-6 caused CNS latent infection that was studied with normal adults brains. But there is no data of HSV, VZV and HHV-6 for aseptic meningitis and encephalitis of Korean adults through etiologic study. We cultured CSFs on HEp-2 cells and simultaneously tested for HSV PCR, VZV nested PCR and HHV-6 PCR with 8 specific primers. The PCR results of CSF from meningitis Korean adults were 13/19 (68.4%) for HSV, 10/19 (52.6%) for VZV and 12/19 (63.2%) for HHV-67/19 (36.8%) cases were triple infected HSV PCR, VZV PCR and HHV-6 PCR positive; 3/19 (15.8%) cases were dual infected HSV PCR and HHV-6 PCR positive; 1119 (0.5%) cases was VZV PCR positive. Strong viral DNA amplification of CSF means a causative virus may be present in aseptic meningitis or encephalitis patients and may cause clinical neurologic symptoms. HSV and HHV-6 viruses detection rate were higher than VZV by PCR with CSFs.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.197-200
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• 2021

Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS) is a disease caused by varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection that can be diagnosed through clinical symptoms with or without imaging evaluations. The typical features of RHS on imaging evaluation include signal changes and enhancement in the internal auditory canal (IAC) nerves, and the labyrinthine segment of cranial nerve VII (CN VII) and cranial nerve VIII (CN VIII). In some patients, inner ear structure (cochlear and vestibular apparatus) is involved in RHS. Neurologic complications, such as encephalitis and meningitis, are rare in RHS, but are known to occur. Therefore, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is necessary to detect both abnormal signal intensity in the IAC, CN VII, CN VIII, inner and ear structure, and CNS complications. We report an RHS patient with CN VII, VIII, and leptomeningeal enhancement within the cerebellar folia on 10-min delayed, contrast-enhanced (CE), three-dimensional fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (3D-FLAIR) imaging.