Frequency and Pattern of Herpes Zoster at Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad (Six months hospital based descriptive study)

Objective: to determine the frequency and pattern of herpes zoster at liaquat university hospital, hyderabad. patiehts and methods: this hospital based descriptive study of six months was carried out at liaquat university hospital, hyderabad (sindh) pakistan; from march 2008 to august 2008. all patients who were above 12 years of age, attended the dermatology opd and were diagnosed as cases of herpes zoster were evaluated and enrolled in the study. the diagnosis was estab- lished by history and relevant clinical examination. the data were collected on pre-designed proforma, saved and analyzed in spss version 10.00. the frequency and percentage of herpes zoster was calculated by detecting the number of positive cases while the pattern was assessed through prodromal, presenting symptoms, dermatome involved and observation of certain com- plications. result: one hundred and ten patients were diagnosed as herpes zoster infection with mean age 38.9±10.79 years. majority (80%) of the patients was presented in the department of derma- tology and 76% were males. the most common prodromal symptom was paresthesia in 40 pa- tients, itching in 35 patients, fever and headache in 20 patients, tingling in 15 patients, watering from eyes in 12 patients and burning in 10 patients. the dermatomes involved were thoracic in 78 patients, trigeminal nerve in 12 patients, lumber in 10 patients, cervical in 08 patients, and sacral in 02 patients. the complications seen were secondary infection in 42 (38%) patients, scarring in 18 (16%) patients, and post-herpetic neuralgia (phn) in 15 (14%) patients. conclusion: herpes zoster is a common viral infection and can be prevented when necessary by patient isolation and passive prophylaxis with varicella-zoster immune globulin. an experi- mental live vaccine also prevents varicella, but problems regarding its virulence for immuno- suppressed patients and the durability of the protective response are still being addressed.