Herpes Zoster in Infancy

Abstract

Three cases of herpes zoster occurring in infancy are reported. In each case the mother had chickenpox in pregnancy.

Herpes Zoster in Otherwise Healthy Children

“…3 The interval between varicella and childhood zoster averages 3.8 years if varicella occurs during the first year of life vs. 6.2 years if varicella occurs after the age of 1 year. 22 Studies of zoster in pediatric patients 1,3,21,22 did not find that childhood zoster was the harbinger of an underlying immunodeficiency, malignancy or HIV infection.…”

“…Several studies of pediatric patients with zoster 1,3,21,22 reported that the most common risk factor for developing zoster was having had varicella before 1 year of age. This can be explained by a decreased development of cellular and humoral immunity to VZV, when varicella occurs during the first year of life.…”

“…1 Pediatric zoster is rarely associated with postzoster neuralgia and usually resolves spontaneously in fewer than 8 days. 17,21,22 The pediatric malignancies most commonly associated with zoster are leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Zoster does not precede the clinical manifestations of these malignancies but instead is associated with chemotherapy or relapse.…”

Chickenpox, Measles, and Mumps

“…When zoster occurs in children who have not previously had chickenpox, there is often a history of intrauterine exposure to VZV. In these reports, the mothers contracted chickenpox during gestation, but gave birth to normal infants who, without ever developing chickenpox despite frequent childhood exposure, developed typical zoster at a young age, many in the first few months of life [74,260,[295][296][297][298][299]. In most of these infants, the course of zoster was benign.…”

“…In most of these infants, the course of zoster was benign. One infant developed a second attack of zoster when 10 months old; the first occurred when the infant was 4 months old [295].…”