Relevant Research Between Viral Load In Peripheral Blood Of Herpes Zoster And Cellular Immune Function And Severity Of Disease

Objective:To observe the correlation between varicella-zoster virus（VZV）DNA load in peripheral blood and the cellular immune function of the organism in herpes zoster,as well as the severity of the patient’s disease.To observe the correlation between the change of VZV-DNA load in the patient’s blood after treatment and the cellular immune function.Methods:Fifty-one patients diagnosed with herpes zoster were selected as the experimental group and 33 healthy adults as the control group from August 2021 to October 2022 in the inpatient department of the Department of the Dermatology of Anhui Provincial Hospital.Both experimental and control groups were tested for peripheral blood T-cell subsets and NK cells to assess the cellular immune function of patients.In addition,the severity of the disease and the severity of neuralgia were assessed on admission to the experimental group.The amount of VZV-DNA copies in peripheral blood before treatment was also measured.After 6 days of drug treatment,the severity of the patients’disease and the severity of neuralgia were assessed again,as well as the peripheral blood VZV-DNA copy quantity was measured.The severity of the rash was measured by clinical scoring,with a total score of≤12 being mild to moderate and>12 being severe.Neuralgia is scored by the Visual Analogue Scale（VAS）index,with 1-3 being mild,4-6 being moderate,and 7-10 being severe.The peripheral blood VZV-DNA load was measured by fluorescence Polymerase Chain Reaction（PCR）method.Patients were followed up 3 months after discharge to determine if the presence of postherpetic neuralgia（PHN）.SPSS 26.0 software was used to perform descriptive statistics,linear regression model analysis,and other relevant statistical analyses for each study variable.Results:1.The differences were statistically significant（P<0.05）when VZV-DNA copy amounts before and after treatment were compared by self-control.2.There was no correlation between pre-treatment VZV-DNA copy amount and CD₃⁺%,CD₄⁺%,CD₈⁺%,CD₄⁺/CD₈⁺%,and NK%in patients with herpes zoster（P>0.05）.The difference in VZV-DNA copy volume before and after treatment in patients with herpes zoster was linearly related to CD₄⁺%and CD₄⁺/CD₈⁺%（P<0.05）.3.There was a linear relationship between VZV-DNA copy amount and blister number,blister cluster number,pain level,erythematous area,total score,and neuralgia before treatment（P<0.05）.A linear relationship wsa found between VZV-DNA copy amount and blister condition,erythematous area and total score after treatment（P<0.05）.4.There was a statistically significant difference in peripheral blood viral load in the severe group before treatment compared with the mild to moderate group（P<0.05）.There was a statistically significant difference in peripheral blood viral load before treatment compared with different degrees of neuralgia severity（P<0.05）.There was a statistically significant difference in peripheral blood viral load for different degrees of severity after treatment（P<0.05）.5.There were no correlations between time to blistering,time to pain,number of blisters,number of blister clusters,blister condition,pain level,erythema area,total score,neuralgia and T cell subsets and NK cells before treatment（P>0.05）.There was no statistically significant difference between T-cell subsets and NK cells in patients with different severity of disease（P>0.05）.6.The peripheral blood viral load after treatment,CD₃⁺%and NK%was statistically different between the PHN group and the non-PHN group（P<0.05）.There was no statistically significant difference in peripheral blood viral load,T-cell subsets and NK cells between the disseminated herpes zoster group and the non-disseminated herpes zoster group（P>0.05）.Conclusion:Peripheral blood viral load of herpes zoster correlates with clinical symptoms.There was a correlation between the degree of decline in peripheral blood viral load and cellular immune function.The peripheral blood viral load of patients after treatment is closely related to the development of PHN.Monitoring of cellular immune function as well as peripheral blood viral load during herpes zoster treatment is a guideline for evaluating the effectiveness of antiviral drugs and the course of treatment.