Early herpes zoster infection in adult patients with Hodgkin's disease undergoing autologous bone marrow transplant

The incidence of varicella-zoster-virus infection/reactivation in adult patients with Hodgkin's disease undergoing autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic was determined. Seven of 28 evaluable patients (25%) developed varicella-zoster infections in the first 150 days post-transplant. Two additional patients developed zoster after day 150 for a total incidence of 32%. We evaluated analysed risk factors to determine if there were any characteristics that could identify patients at risk for zoster early (<150 days) in their post-transplant course