Varicela en el ni？o inmunocomprometido en la era del aciclovir

varicella is a benign infection in children. immunocompromised patients frequently have complications. the treatment with acyclovir had led to a decrease in the rate of complications and the mortality in this group of patients. the incidence of complications varies according to the type of immunodeficiency. between january of 1993 and december of 1999 we compared the clinical characteristics and the outcome of immunocompromised children with varicella. one hundred fifty seven immuno-compromised children with varicella were admitted. the average age of patients was 4 years (range: 4 months to 20 years). fifty-three percent (53%) was male and 94% of the cases were acquired in the community. in 22% (35 patients) some complication was detected. celullitis (21 patients) sepsis (7 patients) and pneumonitis (5 patients) were the most frequent. five percent (7 patients) of the children had bacteriemia. of the studied population, 77 had hemato-oncologic diseases, 40 had hiv infection, 24 received prolonged treatment with steroids and 15 have been subjected to transplantations. all the patients received treatment with acyclovir. there were no statistical differences in age, bacteriemia presence, incidenceand type of complications between the children. alonger rash period, as well as a more frequent monomorphic rash, were observed in children with steroid treatment and transplantation patients (p<0.05). the global mortality was 1.9%. children with hemato-oncologic diseases and transplantation recipients had higher mortality rates (p <0.05).children with prolonged treatment with steroids and transplanted with varicella had longer duration of rash as well as a higher frequency of monomorphic rash. children with organ transplantations and those with hemato-oncologic illnesses had higer mortality rates.