Range of Varicella Zoster Co-Infections with COVID-19, Singapore

Jerold Loh; Sai Meng Tham; Paul Anantharajah Tambyah; Gabriel Yan; Chun Kiat Lee; Louis Yi Ann Chai

doi:10.3947/ic.2020.0154

Range of Varicella Zoster Co-Infections with COVID-19, Singapore

Infect Chemother. 2021 Jun;53(2):391-394. doi: 10.3947/ic.2020.0154.

Authors

Jerold Loh^#¹, Sai Meng Tham^#^{2

3}, Paul Anantharajah Tambyah^{2

3}, Gabriel Yan^{2

3

4}, Chun Kiat Lee⁵, Louis Yi Ann Chai^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medicine Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore. [email protected].
² Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medicine Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore.
³ Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
⁴ Division of Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, National University Health System, Singapore.
⁵ Molecular Diagnosis Centre, Department of Laboratory Medicine, National University Health System, Singapore.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

There have been recent descriptions of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presenting as 'varicella-like exanthem'. We report three cases of patients with Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) and COVID-19 co-infections, presenting in three varied ways. These cases highlight the need for heightened alertness to how such co-infections can present, to pick up overlapping 'dual pathologies' during this current pandemic given that infection control measures including airborne precautions are crucial for both COVID-19 and VZV.

Keywords: COVID-19; Chickenpox; Coinfection; Communicable diseases; Public health.

Publication types

Case Reports

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding