Table 1.

Selected reports of associations between herpesvirus reactivations and COVID-19/COVID-19 vaccination.

References to zoster virus reactivation studies	Study characteristics	Findings
Tammaro et al. (11); Herpes virus infection in COVID-19 patients.	Patients (n = 130) affected by COVID-19 in Sant'Andrea Hospital in Rome.	Two (1.5%) isolated herpetiform lesions. Authors speculate that they could be caused by either human herpes virus 1 (HHV-1), human herpes virus 2 (HHV-2), or VZV.
Bhavsar et al. (12); HZ in COVID-19 patients.	A retrospective cohort study of 394,677 individuals ≥50 years old with COVID-19 matched with 1,577,346 without COVID-19.	COVID-19 diagnosis in ≥50-year-olds was associated with a significantly increased risk of developing HZ. Individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 had a 15% higher HZ risk than those without COVID-19.
Català et al. (13); VZV reactivation after COVID-19 vaccination.	A cross-sectional study on patients (n = 405) with cutaneous reactions within 21 days of any dose of the approved vaccines at the time of the study.	VZV and herpes simplex virus reactivations accounted for 13.8% of reactions. VZV reactivation was the most reported reaction with BNT162b2, Pfizer-BioNTech, 17.2%. Out of 58 patients who took sick leave, 15 were mostly due to HZ.
Oguz et al. (14); HZ after COVID-19 vaccination.	A cross-sectional observational study of patients (n = 269) aged ≥18 years, who presented to 13 different dermatology clinics in Turkey after developing dermatological reactions following the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.	HZ (24.9%) was one of the most frequent dermatological diseases after COVID-19 vaccination. A total of 60.6% of the dermatological diseases were after the administration of the mRNA vaccine, while 39.4% were with an inactivated vaccine.
Rallis et al. (15); Herpetic eye disease (HED) after COVID-19 vaccination.	A retrospective study of all patients who presented with HED within 28 days post-first dose COVID-19 vaccination. Eleven eyes (n = 10 patients) were included.	Six (60%) patients presented with VZV keratitis (five had concurrent other signs of herpes zoster ophthalmicus). The mean interval between COVID-19 vaccination and ocular symptoms/signs was 12.3 ± 10.3 days.