Papers of the Week

Herpes zoster is an acute infectious skin disease that is induced by the re-activation of the virus incubated in nerve ganglions following initial infection with varicella-zoster virus in childhood. Herpes zoster mainly affects sensory nerves, resulting in severe acute pain, which is also the most common reason for medical intervention in this patient group. The concurrent involvement of motor nerves could induce the symptoms of segmental zoster paresis, which is manifested by localized asymmetric myasthenia, whose range generally follows the distribution of myomere with skin rashes. Due to the low incidence and unspecific clinical manifestations, segmental zoster paresis has not been sufficiently recognized by clinicians, and can easily be misdiagnosed.