Summary
Drug‐induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS) is a life‐threatening idiosyncratic drug reaction, and an early accurate diagnosis is essential for its treatment. We describe a 14‐year‐old boy with localization‐related epilepsy, who developed severe adverse cutaneous and systemic reactions after 3 weeks of carbamazepine administration. During the course of the clinical symptoms, reactivation of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV‐6) was proven by detection of the HHV‐6 genome in serum and elevation of HHV‐6 immunoglobulin G (IgG). He fulfilled the newly established criteria for DIHS. Among eight identified medications that can precipitate DIHS, four are antiepileptic drugs. Establishing a treatment strategy for DIHS is warranted to improve its outcome. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness of DIHS among epileptologists.
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