Herpes zoster caused by vaccine-strain varicella zoster virus in an immunocompetent recipient of zoster vaccine.
We report the first laboratory-documented case of herpes zoster caused by the attenuated varicella zoster virus (VZV) contained in Zostavax in a 68-year-old immunocompetent adult with strong evidence of prior wild-type VZV infection. The complete genome sequence of the isolate revealed that the strain carried 15 of 42 (36%) recognized varicella vaccine-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms, including all 5 of the fixed vaccine markers present in nearly all of the strains in the vaccine. The case of herpes zoster was relatively mild and resolved without complications.
Department of Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena.
Hung Fu
HF
Tseng
D Scott
DS
Schmid
Rafael
R
Harpaz
Philip
P
LaRussa
Nancy J
NJ
Jensen
Pierre
P
Rivailler
Kay
K
Radford
Jennifer
J
Folster
Steven J
SJ
Jacobsen
D000368:Aged; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D053061:Herpes Zoster Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004279:DNA, Viral; D053061:Herpes Zoster Vaccine
adult vaccination; herpes zoster; varicella zoster virus