A case report of Post-Varicella Epiglottitis

Varicella is an acquired childhood disease and it is a mild and self-limited one, whose complications in older individuals can be life-threatening. These complications usually appear 3 to 4 days after the appearance of varicella exanthems including pain, recurrent fever>38.5 and toxic appearance. Airway complications of varicella are rare. Acute supraglottitis mostly involves 2 to 6 year old children. Its spread is extremely fast and air-way obstruction is due to cellulites of supraglottic structures. Airway examination in a patient with epiglottitis that is a rare complication of varicella infection must be done in controlled condition or in an operating room and by highly- skilled specialists (e.g. surgeons and anesthesiologists). The patient must be admitted to the intensive care unit and be treated with suitable and effective antibiotics and respiratory care. Otherwise, mortality rate will be high. We report a 21 year old patient with post-varicella epiglottits. The patient after 5 days of exanthema, developed sore throat, stridor, dyspnea with sternal and intercostals retraction, tachypnea, fever and tachycardia. Sever epiglottits was seen on nasopharyngoscopy in operation room. Therefore, emergency tracheostomy was done and post direct laryngoscopy epiglottits was established and biopsy was performed. The patient admitted to the intensive care unit treated by broad spectrum antibiotic and discharged after a week with good general condition and a prescription.