An Outbreak of Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection Among Cancer Patients

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Abstract
An outbreak of varicella-zoster infection occurred among patients of the Medicine Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health [Bethesda, Maryland, USA]. Epidemiologic investigation suggested that the outbreak was due to 2 distinct types of disease. One type was acquired without previous exposure to other diseased patients and was invariably associated with dermatomal lesions. The other, an atypical form, was associated with person-to-person transmission and equivocal initial dermatomal distribution and had an incubation period of approximately 11-25 days. Despite the diagnosis of zoster, the latter probably was varicella, occurring in patients who were immunodeficient because of disease, debility and chemotherapy.

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