Herpes zoster - associated erythema multiforme

Abstract

Background: Erythema multiforme is a cutaneous reaction that has only rarely been described in varicella zoster virus infection.Main observations: We describe a 76-year old immunocompetent male patient with thoracic herpes zoster. While treated with oral brivudin he developed a widespread cutaneous erythema multiforme. The lesions completely cleared with two weeks with systemic corticosteroids.Conclusion: Varicella zoster infections are possible triggers of erythema multiforme and this is the oldest patient reported with such an association. Brivudin itself has not been reported to induce erythema multiforme and is an unlikely cause of disease in our patient.

Erythema multiforme: Differences between HSV‐1 and HSV‐2 and management of the disease—A case report and mini review

“…Other causes of EM are other infections, such as EBV (Turnbull, Hawkins, Atkins, Francis, & Roberts, 2014), Chlamydia pneumoniae (Imashuku & Kudo, 2013), CMV (Vitiello, Echevierra, Elgart, & Kerdel, 2011), VZV (Wollina & Gemmeke, 2009), and drugs such as allopurinol, phenobarbital, tetracyclines, and TNF-α inhibitors (Lerch, Mainetti, Terziroli Beretta-Piccoli, & Harr, 2018).…”

Segmental leukocytoclastic vasculitis in herpes zoster

“…In addition, CNS vasculitis has been observed, including large vessel vasculitis (granulomatous arteritis), small vessel vasculitis, and ventriculitis 2 . In contrast, VZV vasculitis of cutaneous vessels is an uncommon phenomenon, although erythema multiforme‐like lesions have been described 3 …”

The hospital as a work of art: one hundred thirty years of dermatology in Dresden-Friedrichstadt

“…Herpes zoster infections may be associated with a variety of typical [1], but also atypical cutaneous manifestations such as cutaneous zoster vasculitis [3], erythema multiforme [4], or multiple keloids [5]. Leukemia and other conditions of acquired immunosuppression are frequently associated with disseminated and/or necrotizing herpes zoster lesions [1,2].…”