R. Mahalingam et al., PERSISTENCE OF VARICELLA-ZOSTER VIRUS-DNA IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH POSTHERPETIC NEURALGIA, Journal of neurovirology, 1(1), 1995, pp. 130-133
The most common complication of tester in the elderly is postherpetic
neuralgia, operationally defined as pain persisting longer than 1-2 mo
nths after rash. The cause of postherpetic neuralgia is unknown. Using
polymerase chain reaction, we detected varicella tester virus DNA in
blood mononuclear cells from 11 of 51 postherpetic neuralgia patients,
but not in any of 19 tester patients without postherpetic neuralgia,
or in any of 11 elderly individuals without a history of tester. Blood
mononuclear cells from nine of 27 serially-bled postherpetic neuralgi
a patients were positive for varicella tester virus DNA; six were posi
tive once, and three patients were positive more than once. Our result
s indicated that postherpetic neuralgia may be related to persistence
of varicella tester virus.