Live, Attenuated Varicella Zoster Vaccination of an Immunocompromised Patient

A vaccine for the prevention of herpes zoster outbreaks in adults over the age of 60 years has recently been approved. A 76-year-old white female with a history of recurrent left axillary breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy was given a Zostavax® injection by her primary care physician. Eight days...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of general internal medicine : JGIM 2008-05, Vol.23 (5), p.648-649
Main Authors: Curtis, Kelly K., Connolly, Megan K., Northfelt, Donald W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Antineoplastic Agents - adverse effects
Bacterial diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy
Case Report/Clinical Vignettes
Cephalexin
Chemotherapy
Chicken pox
Contraindications
Famciclovir
Female
General aspects
Health care
Herpes viruses
Herpes zoster
Herpes Zoster - etiology
Herpes Zoster Vaccine - adverse effects
Herpesvirus 3, Human - immunology
Herpesvirus 3, Human - pathogenicity
Human viral diseases
Humans
Immune system
Immunocompromised Host - immunology
Infectious diseases
Internal Medicine
Literature reviews
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Miscellaneous
Patients
Physicians, Family
Primary care
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Side effects
Vaccination
Vaccines
Vaccines, Attenuated - adverse effects
Varicella
Viral diseases
Viral diseases with cutaneous or mucosal lesions and viral diseases of the eye
Viruses
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A vaccine for the prevention of herpes zoster outbreaks in adults over the age of 60 years has recently been approved. A 76-year-old white female with a history of recurrent left axillary breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy was given a Zostavax® injection by her primary care physician. Eight days later, the patient developed a rash. Given the recent administration of live, attenuated varicella zoster virus (VZV), a diagnosis of disseminated cutaneous herpes zoster was made. The patient was treated successfully with a course of famciclovir for 10 days and cephalexin for 7 days for a secondary bacterial infection. A review of the medical literature disclosed no reports of Zostavax® given to adult cancer patients immunocompromised by systemic chemotherapy. Therefore, we believe this report is the first to describe the consequences of Zostavax® administration to such a host. Clinicians should take care to review contraindications and precautions prior to administering the Zostavax® vaccine.
ISSN:0884-8734
1525-1497
DOI:10.1007/s11606-008-0558-4