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Linda Van Etta, MD; John Brown, MD; Angeline Mastri, MD; Thomas Wilson, MD

JAMA. 1981;246(15):1703-1705.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

PATIENTS experiencing disseminated varicella-zoster infection may have significant morbidity in the form of pain, extreme fevers (temperature 40 °C), rigors, anorexia, malaise, and, rarely, pneumonia, hepatitis, and encephalitis.¹ Initially, vidarabine sodium phosphate showed promising results in disseminated herpes zoster with a very low incidence of clinical toxicity.² More recently, however, several authors have reported cases of possible neurological toxicity. This toxicity was manifested by tremors, dysarthria, confusion, coma, or a combination.^3-5 Death occurred in several patients.⁶ Except for one patient with evidence of renal insufficiency, symptoms developed during administration of the drug.

We have recently observed a patient with disseminated varicella-zoster infection in whom severe, ultimately fatal, CNS symptoms developed 48 hours after completion of an initial three-day course of vidarabine. We report the details of this case of apparent vidarabine CNS toxicity that occurred in the presence of normal renal function in a patient with . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Infectious Disease Section, Medical Service, Veterans Administration Medical Center (Dr Van Etta); the Department of Neuropathology, University of Minnesota Medical School (Dr Mastri); and the Departments of Medical Oncology and Neurology (Drs Brown and Wilson), Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to the Infectious Disease Section, Veterans Administration Medical Center, 54th Street and 48th Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55417 (Dr Van Etta).

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