Fatal noncutaneous visceral infection with varicella-zoster virus in a patient with lymphoma after autologous bone marrow transplantation

After undergoing high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation, a patient developed fatal disseminated infection due to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) with no coincident skin lesions. This article describes this unusual case and briefly reviews the English-language literature on the abdominal presentation of VZV infection as well as that on VZV infection after bone marrow transplantation. In the severely immunocompromised host, visceral infection with VZV may uncommonly occur in the absence of skin lesions. The possibility of such infection should be considered when immunocompromised patients develop unusual symptoms or other evidence of visceral disease (e.g., cholecystitis).