Shingles and Pericarditis: A Rare Combination

Clinical infection with varicella in both its ’ forms, primary and reactivation, can be associated with a variety of complications. Cardiac complications, though very rare, have been associated with the primary form of varicella zoster and as such should be recognized in order to initiate early treat-ment and prevent morbidity and mortality. However, cardiac complications have not been de-scribed in association with the reactivation form of varicella. We report a case of an adult immu-nocompetent male who presented with herpes zoster complicated by pericarditis with pericardial effusion and a positive varicella zoster virus (VZV) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in pericardial fluid