Expression of varicella-zoster virus in blood mononuclear cells of patients with postherpetic neuralgia.

摘要: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), the most frequent complication of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) reactivation, is characterized by pain that persists for greater than 1 mo and often years after zoster rash. To examine whether PHN might be related to reactivation VZV, blood mononuclear cells patients with were tested presence VZV DNA proteins. was detected in one patient. VZV-specific proteins two acute-varicella patients, acute patient, six elderly PHN, but these not three without PHN. Furthermore, pulse-chase experiments revealed further processing or degradation cells. These findings strongly suggest persistence, expression may result