Concurrent Ramsay Hunt syndrome and disseminated herpes zoster in a patient with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Ishita Chen; Raymond B Fohtung; Hanadi Ajam Oughli; Robert Bauer; Caline Mattar; William G Powderly; Mark S Thoelke

doi:10.1016/j.idcr.2016.10.003

Concurrent Ramsay Hunt syndrome and disseminated herpes zoster in a patient with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia

IDCases. 2016 Oct 8:6:79-82. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2016.10.003. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Ishita Chen¹, Raymond B Fohtung², Hanadi Ajam Oughli³, Robert Bauer³, Caline Mattar⁴, William G Powderly⁴, Mark S Thoelke⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
⁵ Division of Hospital Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.

Abstract

Ramsay Hunt Syndrome (RHS) is a rare complication of latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection that can occur in immunocompetent host. It usually involves ipsilateral facial paralysis, ear pain and facial vesicles. Disseminated herpes zoster is another complication of VZV infection typically seen in immunocompromised hosts. We describe a patient with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who presented simultaneously with RHS and disseminated herpes zoster. While other complications have been documented to coexist with RHS, to our knowledge, this is the first reported case in the literature of concurrent RHS with disseminated herpes zoster.

Keywords: CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia; CTCL, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RHS, Ramsay Hunt syndrome; Ramsay Hunt syndrome; VZV, varicella-zoster virus; Varicella zoster virus.

Publication types

Case Reports