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Published 17 March 2009
Cite this as: BMJ Case Reports 2009 [doi:10.1136/bcr.07.2008.0461]
Copyright © 2009 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Reminder of important clinical lesson

A case for varicella vaccination in the immunosuppressed

Michael Vaclav Holmes, Sowsan F Atabani, Nasser Khan, Kate Steiner, Tanzina Haque, Gabrielle Slapak

Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, Pond Street, London NW3 2XA, UK

Correspondence to:
Michael Vaclav Holmes, mvholmes{at}googlemail.com

SUMMARY

A middle-aged man with long-standing Crohn disease maintained in remission on low-dose immunosuppression presented with abdominal pain. Over the following few days he developed a vesicular rash, became dyspnoeic, confused and had two seizures. Despite high-dose intravenous aciclovir, he died. Disseminated varicella zoster virus, the cause of his death, could potentially have been prevented had he received varicella vaccination at an earlier stage.


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