[Zona in 50 patients infected by human immunodeficiency virus. Clinical manifestations and prognostic value]

Between January 1981 and April 1989, 50 patients infected with HIV were examined for herpes zoster. Herpes zoster enabled HIV infection to be detected in 23 patients (46 percent). It had only one localisation (involving contiguous dermatomes) in 37 patients, two localisations in 6 patients, three or four localisations in 1 patient each, and was disseminated in 5 patients. Localisations were mostly thoracic and cervicofacial. Herpes zoster was treated with acyclovir in 29 patients. All patients, treated or untreated, recovered from herpes zoster, but 9 of them (18 percent) had sequelae: pain in 8 and hypoacousia in 1. Herpes zoster recurred once in 8 patients and twice in 2. Among the patients with AIDS related complex 20 percent developed AIDS after herpes zoster at one year and 30 percent at two years. Among all the patients, the proportion of deaths after herpes zoster was 13 percent at one year and 34 percent at two years.