Incidence of herpes zoster in infancy in Japan.

A search of the literature has revealed only 12 reports of herpes zoster during infancy in Japan. Of these, seven cases were thought to be mother-child infections where the mother had been infected with varicella and transmitted the VZV to the fetus, producing postnatal herpes zoster. The earliest case of maternal varicella infection occurred at 14 weeks of gestation. In the remaining 6 cases infection took place between the 17th and 32nd week of gestation. Postnatal onset of herpes zoster in the infants occurred within three months in two cases and at seven to eight months in the other four cases. In two cases it was unclear whether it was a mother-child infection. In three cases no clinical manifestations of maternal VZV infection were observed, but in these cases during early infancy the patients might have acquired asymptomatic infection.