[Varicella complications: study of 117 patients admitted to the Emílio Ribas Hospital]

Chickenpox, an exanthemic disease common in childhood, has a benign course in most of the cases. However, several complications may occur; among them we have: bacterial infection of the skin, pneumonia, meningoencephalitis, thrombocytopenia, renal failure and others. The present study aims to analyse the occurrence of these complications, and for this purpose, a retrospective survey of the cases admitted to the Hospital Emílio Ribas during the period of December 1986 through December 1987 was performed. During this period, 117 patients were admitted, 91 of them aged 15 years or less. Associated complications were detected in 103 patients. The most frequent ones were pneumonia (31.87%) and bacterial infection of the skin (28.75%). Among children, the most frequent complication was skin bacterial infection (44 cases); whereas among adults, pulmonary complications were the most frequent. Among neurologic complications, there was a case of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a very rarely occurrence in the literature. The lethality was high, and the pulmonary complications with septicemia were responsible the most part of them.