Herpes zoster in al-Kuwait University Hospital in Sana'a City Yemen : clinical presentation and complications

الملخص EN

Herpes zoster (or simply zoster), commonly known as shingles and also known as zona, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a limited area on one side of the body, often in a stripe.

The initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV) causes the acute (short-lived) illness chickenpox which generally occurs in children and young adults.

Once an episode of chickenpox has resolved, the virus is not eliminated from the body but can go on to cause shingles —an illness with very different symptoms— often many years after the initial infection.We undertook this study to know the clinical and morphological characteristics of herpes zoster and it’s complication in Yemen.

All cases of herpes zoster (HZ) seen in the dermatology clinic at Al-Kuwait University Hospital over a 10 years period (2001-2011) were included in the study.

Their diagnoses were based on the clinical presentation.

The following parameters were collected and analyzed : age, sex, symptoms, dermatome distribution, complications, and coexisting diseases.

Of 32 749 new cases seen in the dermatology clinic over 10 years, 154 were HZ, with an occurrence of 0.47 %.

Male to female ratio was 3.1:2 and the age ranged from 12 months to 90 years.

The thoracic dermatomes were the most commonly involved in 86 cases (54 %) followed by trigeminal in 27 cases (17.5 %) and cervical in 24 cases (15.6 %) ; and both body sides involved roughly in equal rates.

Bi-dermatomal involvement was seen in 97 (63 %) cases, followed by mono-dermatomal in 54 (35 %) cases and disseminated in 3 (1.9 %) cases.

The most common complication of HZ were post herpetic neurologia (12.3 %),followed by 3 cases of disseminated HZ, 2 cases of HZ ophthalmic us developed eye complications end with blindness and 2 cases of scars.

Finally, the occurrence of HZ is 0.47 % in patients reporting to the dermatology clinic of the hospital.

Males are little more affected than females.

The thoracic dermatomes are the most frequently involved and post herpetic neuralgia is the most common complication of HZ among Yemeni patients.