Varicella-zoster virus-associated fulminant hepatitis following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma

Abstract

Disseminated visceral varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection rarely occurs in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). To date, only a few cases of isolated VZV-induced fulminant hepatitis following allo-HSCT have been reported. We herein describe the case of a 47-year-old Japanese man with multiple myeloma who developed fulminant hepatitis 17 months after undergoing allo-HSCT. Despite receiving fresh frozen plasma and platelet transfusions, he developed a bleeding tendency (systemic purpura, petechiae and oral bleeding), slipped into a coma and eventually died. He was retrospectively diagnosed with viscerally disseminated VZV infection based on a postmortem examination and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification.