[Diagnostic difficulties in herpes zoster]

The authors have analysed the clinical and laboratory findings in 170 patients with herpes zoster (HZ). Of these, 21 patients (12.3%) had been erroneously diagnosed before the appearance of herpetic eruption as having other diseases (erysipelas, renal colic, acute pancreatitis, acute abdomen, and so forth). The authors point to the difficulties encountered in making the diagnosis at the initial disease period with emphasis on the great importance for early diagnosis of HZ of the analysis of the clinical findings, prodromal period and hemogram data.