ABSTRACT

Objective:

Herpes zoster (HZ) caused by varicella zoster virus is rare in childhood. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the demographic characteristics, clinical findings and, complications of children aged 0-12 years who were admitted to dermatology policlinic and diagnosed with HZ.

Methods:

Data of patients less than 12 years of age, who were admitted to the dermatology polyclinic and diagnosed with HZ between March 2014 and November 2015, were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were evaluated in terms of age, gender, history of varicella, varicella vaccine, clinical findings, comorbid disease, complication development, and treatment.

Results:

Forty-eight patients of 22 were female and 26 were male patients. The median age was 5.9. Five of the patients were in the 0-1 age range. In the distribution of involvement was; cranial: 4 patients, cervical: 9 patients, thoracal: 14 patients, lumbosacral: 17 patients, femoral: 4 patients. The most obvious complaint was sensation of burning-stinging-itching. There were no complications except Ramsay-Hunt syndrome in two patients, no postherpetic neuralgia developed in any patient.

Conclusion:

HZ can be seen at any age but is a rare disease in childhood. Although immunsupression is an important predisposing factor that can also be seen in healthy children, the clinical features of sacral and cervical involvement may be more frequent in childhood and the risk of postherpetic neuralgia was found very rare.