Selleger C
Rev Fr Mal Respir. 1979 Jan-Feb;7(1):9-18.
Two mortal cases of varicella pneumonitis are described. The patients were respectively 41 and 34 years-old men of good health. They caught the disease from their children. The disease lasted one week, and death was due in both cases to respiratory failure. The autopsy confirmed massive lung involvement with varicella pneumonia, and also showed other organs involvement (liver, spleen, pancreas, lymph nodes, oesophagus). In both cases, human fibroblast cultures infected by material obtained from cutaneous lesions (in the second case also from the spleen) revealed the presence of Herpesvirus varicellae. A review of 41 cases of adult mortal varicella in the literature demonstrates that death is practically always due to pneumonia and consequent respiratory failure. The dissemination of the virus in other organs is constant. Circumstances, such as pregnancy, immunosuppression, etc., which aggravate the prognosis of varicella in adults, are discussed.
本文描述了两例水痘肺炎致死病例。患者分别为41岁和34岁的健康男性，他们均从自己的孩子那里感染了此病。病程持续一周，两例均因呼吸衰竭死亡。尸检证实肺部有大量水痘肺炎病变，同时还显示其他器官（肝脏、脾脏、胰腺、淋巴结、食管）也有病变。在两例病例中，用人皮肤损伤部位（第二例还包括脾脏）获取的材料感染人成纤维细胞培养物，均发现了水痘疱疹病毒。对文献中41例成人水痘致死病例的回顾表明，死亡几乎总是由肺炎及随之而来的呼吸衰竭所致。病毒在其他器官的扩散也很常见。文中还讨论了诸如妊娠、免疫抑制等会加重成人水痘预后的情况。
