A Life-Threatening Condition in A Child With Chicken Pox: Eczema Herpeticum

Coskun CELTIK, Yasemin KARAL, Asli KIBRIS, Deniz KIRCUVAL, Binnur TUZUN

Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics.
Trakya University Faculty of Medicine，Department of Dermatology.

DOI: 10.4236/ojped.2011.11001                

Abstract

Eczema herpeticum is a severe infectious eruption caused by Herpes group viruses. The disease usually occurs in the patients with pre existing dermatosis, expecially atopic dermatitis. A three-year-old boy who has high fever and widespread skin eruptions with vesiculopustuler eruptions, erosions and ulcers was brought out to our emergency clinic. The patient had no pre-existing dermatosis, but he had suffered from chicken-pox. As serological, the antibodies of Varicella-IgM and Herpes simplex-IgM were positive. Eczema Herpeticum which occurred on a chicken-pox was diagnosed according to his history, physical examination, laboratory and pathologic findings. Acyclovir and empiric antibiotherapy together with the symptomatic therapy were used for treatment. His skin lesions recovered in one week after these therapies. The aim of this case-report is to emphasize the features of eczema herpeticum which occurred on a pre-existing varicella eruption.

Keywords

Eczema herpeticum, Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption, varicella, chicken pox, herpes virus, dermatitis, child.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Stanberry LR. Herpes Simplex Virus. In Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Text-book of Pediatrics, 18th ed, Philadelphia; WB Saunders Co. 2007; 1360-1365.
[2]	Hill CO, Sterling JC, Kurtz JB. Viral infections. In Champion RH, Burton JL, Burns DA, Brethnach SM, eds. Textbook of Dermatology, 6th ed, London; Blackwell Science Ltd., 1998: 995-1095
[3]	Brook I, Frazier EH, Yeager JK. Microbiology of in-fected eczema herpeticum. J Am Acad Dermatology 1995; 627-629
[4]	Mooney MA, Janniger CK, Schwartz RA. Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption. Cutis 1994; 53: 243-245
[5]	Kristal L, Klein PA. Atopic Dermatitis in Infant and Children. Pediatric Clinics of North America (Pediatric Dermatology) 2000; 47:877-895
[6]	Crumpacker CS: Herpes simplex. In Freedberg IM, Eisen AZ, Wolff K, Austen KF, Goldsmith LA, Katz SI et al, eds. Dermatology in General Medicine, 5th edition, Newyork; Mc Graw, 1999; 2414-2426
[7]	Engler RJM, Kenner J, Leung DYM. Smallpox vaccina-tion: Risk considerations for patient with atopic dermati-tis. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2002; 110: 357-365.
[8]	Mackley CL, Adams DR, Anderson B, Miller JJ. Eczema herpeticum: a dermatolojic emergency. Dermatol Nurs 2002; 14: 307-310
[9]	Lubbe J, Pournaras CC, Saurat JH. Eczema herpeticum during treatment of atopic dermatitis with 0.1% tac-rolimus ointment. Dermatology 2000; 201: 249-251
[10]	Goodyear HM, McLeish P, Randall S. Immunological studies of herpes simplex virus infection in children with atopic eczema. Br J Dermatol 1996; 134: 85-93
[11]	Fivenson DP, Breneman DL, Wander AH. Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption. Absence of ocular involvement. Arch Dermatol 1990; 126: 1037-1039
[12]	Bestue M, Cordero A. Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption in a patient with healing peribucal dermabrasion. Dermatol Surg 2000; 26: 939-940.