Title: Necrotizing tracheobronchitis and bronchopneumonia consistent with herpetic infection
Abstract: Herpetic tracheobronchitis and pneumonia, supposedly a rare infection, was recently reported as occurring in approximately 10 per cent of burn patients examined post mortem. In the present study 1000 consecutive autopsies performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital were reviewed, and 10 cases morphologically consistent with herpetic infection of the lower respiratory tract were found, an incidence of 1 per cent. The diagnosis was made by observing the spectrum of nuclear changes characteristic of herpetic infection. Such changes were found in epithelial cells at the margins of tracheobronchial ulcerations, in mucous glands of involved airways, and at the periphery of necrotic foci in the lung. In many cases careful search was required in order to find the diagnostic cells. No case was diagnosed clinically and all but one had been overlooked at autopsy. The infection was a severely necrotizing process that caused extensive ulceration of the airways and destruction of lung parenchyma. In three patients herpetic bronchopneumonia may have been the primary cause of death. Trauma to the airway was a possible predisposing factor in each case. In eight cases the trauma was related to tracheal intubation; the other two cases were burn patients who may have sustained inhalation injury. It appears that herpetic infection of the lower respiratory tract, unassociated with disseminated herpes, is much more common than hitherto believed.
Publication Year: 1972
Publication Date: 1972-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 114
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