Herpes Zoster in Children and Adolescents: A 10-year Retrospective Study at a Single Institution / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Studies on herpes zoster have been extensively reported in Korea. However, few reports have dealt with herpes zoster in children and adolescents. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiological features and clinical characteristics of herpes zoster in children and adolescents. METHODS: During a 10-year period (2005~2014), 95 herpes zoster patients, aged 18 years and younger, were evaluated in regard to the annual, monthly, and seasonal incidences; the age distribution; and the gender ratio. The children and adolescents with herpes zoster were further assessed on the accompanying symptoms, dermatomal distribution, associated diseases, treatments, and complications. RESULTS: Among all the patients with herpes zoster, 2.41% were children and adolescents. The highest incidence was in summer (35.8%). The age group of 10 to 14 years had the highest incidence (40.0%). The male to female ratio was 1.4:1. The common accompanying symptoms were pain (77.9%) and pruritus (22.1%). The most common dermatomal distribution was the thoracic dermatome (50.5%), followed by the cervical (21.1%), the trigeminal (16.8%), the lumbar (7.4%) and the sacral (4.2%) dermatomes. Associated diseases including atopic dermatitis, bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, and epilepsy were observed in 23.2%. There was no case with immunosuppression. The most common complication was secondary bacterial infection (5.2%), followed by herpes zoster ophthalmicus or herpes zoster generalisatus (4.2%), Ramsay Hunt syndrome (2.1%), meningitis and recurrent herpes zoster (1.1%). No patient developed postherpetic neuralgia. CONCLUSION: Herpes zoster is rare and relatively mild in healthy immunocompetent children and adolescents. Pruritus was observed in some pediatric patients, but there was no occurrence of postherpetic neuralgia.