{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T06:07:38Z","timestamp":1792735658172,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,10]],"date-time":"2011-05-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1304985600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/www.springer.com\/tdm"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Pediatr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2011,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Infection with varicella-zoster virus (VZV) contemporaneously with malignant disease or immunosuppression represents a particular challenge and requires individualized decisions and treatment. Although the increasing use of varicella-vaccines in the general population and rapid initiation of VZV-immunoglobulins and acyclovir in case of exposure has been beneficial for some patients, immunocompromised individuals are still at risk for unfavourable courses.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this single center, 6-year analysis we review incidence, hospitalization and complication rates of VZV-infections in our center and compare them to published data. Furthermore, we report three instructive cases.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Hospitalization rate of referred children with VZV-infections was 45%, among these 17% with malignancies and 9% under immunosuppressive therapy. Rate of complications was not elevated in these two high-risk cohorts, but one ALL-patient died due to VZV-related complications. We report one 4-year old boy with initial diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia who showed a rapidly fatal outcome of his simultaneous varicella-infection, one 1.8-year old boy with an identical situation but a mild course of his disease, and an 8.5-year old boy with a steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome. This boy developed severe hepatic involvement during his varicella-infection but responded to immediate withdrawl of steroids and administration of acyclovir plus single-dose cidofovir after nonresponse to acyclovir after 48 h.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our data show that patients with malignant diseases or immunosuppressive therapy should be hospitalized and treated immediately with antiviral agents. Despite these measures the course of VZV-infections can be highly variable in these patients. We discuss aids to individual decision-making for these difficult situations.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2431-11-31","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,11]],"date-time":"2011-05-11T18:17:58Z","timestamp":1305137878000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":63,"title":["Varicella-zoster virus infections in immunocompromised patients - a single centre 6-years analysis"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Verena","family":"Wiegering","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Judith","family":"Schick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meinrad","family":"Beer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Benedikt","family":"Weissbrich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stefan","family":"Gattenl\u00f6hner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hermann J","family":"Girschick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johannes","family":"Liese","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul G","family":"Schlegel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthias","family":"Eyrich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,10]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"448_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1097\/INF.0b013e3181586665","volume":"27","author":"JG Liese","year":"2008","unstructured":"Liese JG, Grote V, Rosenfeld E, Fischer R, Belohradsky BH, v Kries R: The burden of varicella complications before the introduction of routine varicella vaccination in Germany. 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