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Post‐varicella intracranial haemorrhage in a child
Author(s) -
Danchaivijitr Nasuda,
Miravet Elena,
Saunders Dawn E,
Cox Tim,
Ganesan Vijeya
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
developmental medicine and child neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.658
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1469-8749
pISSN - 0012-1622
DOI - 10.1017/s0012162206000302
Subject(s) - medicine , arteritis , vasospasm , vasculitis , intracranial haemorrhage , varicella zoster virus , chickenpox , surgery , pathology , complication , virus , disease , virology , subarachnoid hemorrhage
We report a case of a 7‐month‐old male with primary intracranial haemorrhage 2 months after infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). His initial clinical course was complicated by seizures and right hemiparesis; when last seen at 22 months the only positive finding was of left hand preference. Although the literature has recently established the association of arterial ischaemic stroke and VZV infection, primary intracranial haemorrhage has been reported only in one case. The child reported here had anterior interhemispheric haemorrhage due to a focal arteritis of the left anterior cerebral artery. The vascular abnormality was transient and had radiological features compatible with either a focal arteritis or vasospasm as a direct result of blood surrounding the vessels. We postulate that direct invasion of VZV caused extensive inflammation of the vessel wall and aggressive tissue penetration resulting in necrotizing angiitis and intracranial haemorrhage. We suggest that VZV infection should be considered a potential risk factor for intracranial haemorrhage in children.