Overwhelming disseminated herpes simplex virus type 2 infection in a patient with severe burn injury: case report and literature review.
Viral-mediated organ disease is an infrequent but recognized complication of severe burn injury. This occurs primarily because of herpes family viruses such as cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus (HSV), and Epstein-Barr virus given their ability to establish lifelong latency after primary infection and reactivate in the setting of altered immune function. In this report, we describe a severely burned patient who succumbed to fulminant HSV-2 pneumonitis and hepatitis, and summarize the existing literature on HSV infections in this unique patient population. To our knowledge, this is the first report of disseminated visceral HSV-2 infection in a burn patient in the medical literature.
Peppercorn
Amanda
A
Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7215, USA.
Veit
Lindsay
L
Sigel
Carlie
C
Weber
David J
DJ
Jones
Samuel
S
Cairns
Bruce A
BA
D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000209:etiology / Q000821:virology*; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000209:etiology* / Q000635:transmission; D018258:Herpesvirus 2, Human; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011024:Pneumonia, Viral / Q000209:etiology*; D012307:Risk Factors