Varicella Zoster Virus: A Cause of Granulomatous Arteritis of the Aorta?

Granulomatous arteritis is seen in giant cell arteritis, which involves temporal arteries predominantly. The cause of granulomatous arteritis is unknown. Investigators previously detected varicella zoster virus (VZV) in temporal arteries of patients with giant cell arteritis. The investigators have now retrospectively tested for VZV in aortas from an institutional surgical pathology database. Eleven aortas had granulomatous arteritis, 1 had aortic inflammation without granulomatous changes, and 18 aortas from patients who had undergone autopsy not related to arteritis were healthy (“controls”).

Two virologists blinded to clinical and pathologic features of the cases conducted immunohistochemical examination using three different anti-VZV ant…