Age: 74.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: VARZOS
Symptoms: Ophthalmic herpes zoster, Palpitations, Skin ulcer, Vision blurred
Clinical narrative: This spontaneous report was received from an optometrist and the patient's son and refers to a 76 year old female patient. No information was provided regarding the patient's concurrent conditions, medical history or concomitant medications. The patient had no pertinent drug reactions/allergies. On 12-JAN-2013, the patient was vaccinated with ZOSTAVAX with sterile diluent (MERCK) for prevention of shingles (dose, route reported as injection, lot number and expiration date were not reported). On 01-NOV-2014, the patient experienced the following adverse experiences: "heart was completely racing, shortness of breath, and dizziness". The patient went to see her primary care physician for these adverse experiences. An electrocardiogram (EKG) was performed due to the heart issues on 04-NOV-2014 and the patient was diagnosed with an "a-fib" (atrial fibrillation). The patient was prescribed with an unspecified blood thinner. Then from an unspecified date in November 2014 to an unspecified date in December of 2014, the patient saw a cardiologist. The patient was prescribed with unspecified heart medications for atrial fibrillation. However, since an unspecified date, the atrial fibrillation was not completely controlled by the medication, according to the reporter. Then on 23-JAN-2017, the patient had an appointment with a different physician because the patient was still having "heart issues" while she was in another place. On 22-FEB-2017, the patient had a "heart ablation" at a hospital. This procedure was done to help "cure the a-fib." The patient was in the hospital for an unspecified period of time and the reported stated that the heart ablation "did not exactly cure" the a-fib. On 09-MAR-2017, the patient atrial fibrillation "came back really hard" and was taken back to a hospital and the patient had to spend a "few days" at this hospital on unspecified dates. Then on 06-JAN-2018, the patient's right eye started swelling up and developed blurred vision. The patient went to an optometrist and the optometrist thought the patient had pink eye and no lesions were in the eye and prescribed her with unspecified eye drops. A few days after she was prescribed the eye drops on an unspecified date, the patient developed "sores across her face and forehead." On approximately 16-JAN-2018, the patient returned with lesions in her eye and was treated with LOTEMAX. It was, on an unspecified date, diagnosed as shingles. On 09-MAR-2018, the patient was hospitalized for an unspecified period of time at a hospital, so a "cardioversion" could be performed for the patient's atrial fibrillation. Recently, on an unspecified date, the patient's shingles flared up once more and was causing the patient's right eye to become blurry again. The patient was still having eye issues and was seeing an optometrist. The patient was prescribed with an unspecified eye drop in her eyes at least three times a day and the patient's eyesight was getting worse. An optometrist followed up with the patient, and he was reported that there were problems getting off the steroids. At the time of this report, the patient had not recovered from the events atrial fibrillation and herpes zoster. The outcome of drug effect incomplete was not reported. The causal relationship between the aforementioned events and therapy with ZOSTAVAX and sterile diluent (MERCK) was not reported. Upon internal review, the events ophthalmic herpes zoster and atrial fibrillation were considered to be medically significant.