Varicella-Zoster Meningitis With Hypoglycorrhachia in an Immunocompetent Patient Presenting With Disseminated Varicella-Zoster Infection.

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection is rarely reported in immunocompetent hosts. We report the case of a 40-year-old male who presented with altered mental status. One week prior, he was seen at his outpatient physician's office for a rash along the lateral right thigh. Erythema of the right gluteal region was noted, but no vesicles were present. He was treated for shingles rash with acyclovir with improvement. After a period of initial improvement in the rash, the patient developed a persistent headache. Given his migraine history, he overlooked the headache. He then developed fever, followed by confusion and was brought to the ED for further evaluation. CT head was unremarkable. Lumbar puncture revealed aseptic meningitis. This case highlights the unusual presentation of disseminated VZV infection in an immunocompetent host. It stresses the importance of maintaining high suspicion for disseminated VZV infection despite the patient being immunocompetent.

Sodium-Thiosulfate Induced Life-Threatening Metabolic Acidosis Limiting Treatment of Calciphylaxis.

BACKGROUND Calcific uremic arteriolopathy (CUA) is a rare and incredibly painful cutaneous disorder secondary to microvascular involvement in which calcium dysregulation leads to stenosis of medium sized arterial blood vessels along with endothelial dysregulation and thrombosis. Ultimately, these patients are at high risk for non-healing wounds with risk of death from sepsis and multi-organ failure. It is a poorly understood condition with limited therapies that do not offer mortality benefit. Prevalence is about 4% in hemodialysis patients. Sodium thiosulfate (STS) can be used in hemodialysis patients but therapy is often limited by the development of high anion gap metabolic acidosis. CASE REPORT A 53-year-old male who had end stage renal disease and who was on hemodialysis and taking warfarin for bio-prosthetic mitral valve replacement and atrial fibrillation presented with non-healing right lower extremity cellulitis which had failed outpatient treatment. A skin biopsy of the lesion was consistent with CUA. The patient failed to improve on calcitriol and cinacalcet and was started on intravenous STS. Subsequently, he developed life threatening metabolic acidosis requiring a bicarbonate drip. He died 12 weeks after his initial diagnosis of CUA. CONCLUSIONS This article seeks to describe how the treatment of CUA; a rare disease with high mortality, is limited by the development of metabolic acidosis when using STS therapy. There is an 80% mortality rate within 6 months from CUA with major adverse effect of a high anion gap metabolic acidosis. Further research is needed in the field of establishing optimal dosing and frequency.

Celiac artery disease and fatal rupture of a hepatic artery aneurysm in the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Isolated visceral arteriopathies of the celiac and hepatic artery are rare. We present a case of a Caucasian man who presented with abdominal pain and was found to have a spontaneous celiac artery dissection. Genetic analysis revealed a mutation consistent with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV. The patient died 2 months later from a spontaneous rupture of his hepatic artery.