Fulminant hepatitis and death associated with disseminated varicella in an immunocompromised adult from the Czech Republic caused by a wild-type clade 4 varicella-zoster virus strain

Varicella zoster virus typically causes a benign disease in childhood called varicella (chickenpox) and can reactivate in adults as a dermatomally distributed, painful rash illness known as herpes zoster (HZ). Infection with VZV can however lead to severe complications in immunocompromised patients that can result in hospitalization and, occasionally, death. Here we describe a patient, who acquired primary VZV infection during a 3-week-long treatment regimen with corticosteroids. The disease took a fulminant course, leading to a liver failure and severe coagulopathy. The patient died 9 days following hospital admission, despite intensive antiviral and supportive treatment. Wild-type VZV DNA was detected from multiple samples from esophagus, liver and skin. Genotypic analysis based on single nucleotide polymorphism profiles in open reading frames (ORFs) 21, 22 and 50 identified this strain as a clade 4 isolate, which is typically found in tropical countries. This is the first description of a clade 4 strain from a patient in the Czech Republic.