Abdominal pain and infection by the varicella-zoster virus following bone marrow transplant

Abstract

Infection by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients who have received a bone marrow transplantation (BMT), both autologue and alogenic. Infection is generally produced in the first post-transplant year and, in its disseminated form, it can show itself through abdominal pain that translates the visceral affectation, pain that can precede the appearance of the characteristic cutaneous lesions by days, making diagnosis difficult. The clinical case described belongs to a patient who, 10 months after a bone marrow transplant, showed an infection by varicella-zoster virus, manifested through abdominal pain due to hepatic affectation, with an interval of 2 days between the start of pain and the appearance of cutaneous lesions. The diagnosis and treatment of these patients is discussed.