PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 1 January 2001, p. e9
Received May 31, 2000; accepted Aug 1, 2000.
, and
From the * Department of Neurology, Childrens National Medical
Center, Washington, DC;
Division of Neuroradiology, Department of
Diagnostic Imaging, Hasbro Children's Hospital and Rhode Island
Hospital, and Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Brown University School
of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island; and the § Division of Pediatric
Neurology, Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Hasbro Children's
Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital, and Department of Pediatrics and
Clinical Neurosciences, Brown University School of Medicine,
Providence, Rhode Island.
A 7-year-old girl with primary varicella presented with encephalopathy and focal neurologic deficits 10 days after her first skin lesions appeared. She was discovered to have bilateral wedge-shaped renal infarctions, and ischemic lesions in the conus medullaris, cerebral cortex, and deep gray matter consistent with a medium and large vessel arteritis on magnetic resonance imaging. This complication has never before been reported in an immunocompetent child with primary varicella infection, and it represents a rare but serious complication of childhood chickenpox.
Key words: varicella, child, vasculitis, cerebral arteritis, renal arteritis.
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