Small bowel obstruction as a complication of disseminated varicella-zoster infection

A 40-year-old woman with Sjögren's syndrome and mixed cryoglobulinemia, treated with corticosteroids, presented with small bowel obstruction temporally associated with cutaneous varicella-zoster (V-Z) infection. At laparotomy a portion of inflamed, necrotic small bowel was resected. Cells in the margin of the lesion exhibited characteristic intranuclear inclusion bodies. This case report emphasizes the multiple organ involvement that can occur with disseminated V-Z infection. Despite the rarity of gastrointestinal involvement, this infection must be included in the differential diagnosis of the acute abdomen in patients with cutaneous vesicles.