Severe herpes zoster ophthalmicus in young African adults: a marker for HTLV-III seropositivity.

Prognostic value of Hutchinson's sign in acute herpes zoster ophthalmicus

“…This fact is clearly illustrated by the enhanced risk of serious sequelae in HIV-infected individuals in underdeveloped countries, where antiviral drugs or ophthalmological expertise are not available [1,7,8]. In this study, ocular inflammation was sometimes prolonged, but gradually subsided in the vast majority of the patients.…”

Course and complications of varicella zoster ophthalmicus in a high HIV seroprevalence population (Cape Town, South Africa)

“…In our study, relatively fewer corneal complications (53 complications/102 patients ¼ 51.9%) were seen than the 89.5% rate in the HIV-infected Rwandan group. 2 Similarly, only 1/102 patients developed trichiasis compared with 25/100 in the Ethiopian group. 4 This may have been partially related to appropriate local therapy, which in our group included potassium permanganate soaks and silver sulphadiazine 1% ointment to the skin and chloramphenicol ointment to the lids.…”

“…Its significant short-and long-term morbidity make it an important ophthalmic public health issue. African studies in recent decades have pointed to the association between HIV and VZO: HIV seroprevalence in patients with VZO in subSaharan Africa varies from 40 to 100% in South Africa, 1 Rwanda, 2 and Nigeria. 3 In African countries where antiviral therapy has been unavailable, severe VZO complications with long-term morbidity have been reported: a Rwandan study reported corneal complications in 17 of 19 HIV-infected patients (89.5%), 2 and 25 of 100 patients developed trichiasis in an Ethiopian population.…”

“…African studies in recent decades have pointed to the association between HIV and VZO: HIV seroprevalence in patients with VZO in subSaharan Africa varies from 40 to 100% in South Africa, 1 Rwanda, 2 and Nigeria. 3 In African countries where antiviral therapy has been unavailable, severe VZO complications with long-term morbidity have been reported: a Rwandan study reported corneal complications in 17 of 19 HIV-infected patients (89.5%), 2 and 25 of 100 patients developed trichiasis in an Ethiopian population. 4 There is little published information on the course of VZO in populations with high HIV seroprevalence, in which varicella zoster affects younger patients and in which access to antiviral therapy is often limited.…”

Opportunistic Infections of the Eye in Immunocompromised Patients

“…Despite immunosuppression, it appears that the inci dence of HSV keratitis is probably no higher in the HIV positive population than in comparative immunocompe tent group [11], In contrast to HSV, varizella zoster (VZV) infection is relatively common in AIDS. VZV-infected HIV-positive patients have an increased frequency of corneal involve ment (89%), uveitis (53%) and postherpetic neuralgia (42%) [12,13].…”