Aspergillus invasive otitis externa as a complication of herpes zoster oticus

Su-Chin Yang^{a, b}, Hsu-Chueh Ho^{b, c}, Chorng-Jang Lay^a, Chen-Chi Tsai^{a, b}

^a Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
^b School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
^c Division of Otorhinolaryngology, Department of Surgery, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan

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Abstract
Aspergillus invasive otitis externa (IOE) is rare and often occurs in the immunocompromised hosts. An immunocompetent case of Aspergillus IOE complicated by herpes zoster oticus is described in this report. The patient presented with refractory otorrhea and otalgia that continued for a long time after resolution of the herpes zoster oticus. She was successfully treated for 8 weeks with oral voriconazole. To our knowledge, this is the first description of an immunocompetent case of Aspergillus IOE complicated by herpes zoster oticus.

Keywords
Aspergillus; Herpes zoster oticus; Invasive otitis externa