Acute urinary retention as a complication of primary varicella-zoster infection of childhood – a second reported case

Abstract

We present the case of an 8 year old male child with acute urinary retention and constipation following primary varicella-zoster infection (chicken pox). To our knowledge, this unusual complication has only been reported once before in the modern English-language medical literature. Our patient’s presentation is congruent with the hypothesis that towards the end of primary varicella-zoster infection, virus infecting a specific ganglion (prior to becoming latent) may cause transient neurological effects.