Central nervous system and renal vasculitis associated with primary varicella infection in a child

A 7-year-old girl with primary varicella presented with encephalopathy and focal neurologic deficits 10 days after her first skin lesions appeared. Sh e was discovered to have bilateral wedge-shaped renal infarctions, and isch emic lesions in the conus medullaris, cerebral cortex, and deep gray matter consistent with a medium and large vessel arteritis on magnetic resonance imaging. This complication has never before been reported in an immunocompe tent child with primary varicella infection, and it represents a rare but s erious complication of childhood chickenpox.