A case of paraplegia due to asymptomatic varicella-zoster virus infection in AIDS patient unexpectedly diagnosed by CSF metagenomic next-generation sequencing
Open Access
- 16 September 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in BMC Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 21 (1), 1-4
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06611-9
Abstract
Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection may induce central nervous system complications in HIV/AIDS patients. However, it is rare to have paraplegia caused by VZV infection but no herpes zoster clinically. Asymptomatic VZV infection in HIV/AIDS patient increased the difficulty of diagnosis. We reported a 41-year-old male AIDS patient with rare asymptomatic VZV infection-induced paraplegia after his anti-retroviral therapy initiation. MRI of the spinal cord showed the morphology of the thoracic spinal cord was irregular and locally inflated. The patient was confirmed as VZV induced thoracic myelomyelitis by using the cerebrospinal fluid for metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS). mNGS may contribute to disease diagnosis for asymptomatic VZV infection-induced myelitis.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81760602, 81803295)
- Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2018GXNSFAA138031)
- the research basic ability enhancement project of young and middle-aged teachers in guangxi universities in 2021 (2021KY0081)
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