Background: Eczema herpeticum (EH) is caused by viral infection, usually with the herpes simplex virus (HSV), and most often occurs in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). Although EH is a common dermatosis, predisposing factors are largely unknown, and there have been few clinical and epidemiologic studies in Korea.
Objective: This study evaluated the clinical characteristics of inpatients diagnosed with EH over the last 10 years.
Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 62 patients who were diagnosed with EH and were hospitalized at the Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju from January 2004 to July 2014.
Results: The ratio of male to female patients with EH was about 2：1, and the mean age at onset of EH was 25.3 (±17.3) years. In this study, AD (67.7%) was the most common preceding skin disorder, followed by nummular eczema (6.5%), and seborrheic dermatitis (3.2%). Patients with EH had other systemic symptoms such as fever (22.6%), headache (4.8%), and lymphadenopathy (4.8%). Patients with recurrent infection of HSV had longer hospitalizations compared to those with primary infection (9.35 vs. 6.49 days), but the difference was not significant (p=0.269). There was no significant difference in the number of hospitalized days between patients receiving antiviral agents vs. antibiotics (p=0.153). Systemic steroids were administered in 66.1% patients, which had no correlation with the number of hospitalized days (p=0.203).
Conclusion: The present retrospective analysis contributes to our understanding of the clinical characteristics of EH.
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