Nicolau syndrome following the injection ofPentavalent vaccine: A case report

Nicolau syndrome is a rare condition that happens after intramuscular injection. All the intramuscular injections may have mild to moderate complications such as pain, focal abscess, nerve complication and anaphylactic reactions. Among these complications, wide necrosis of the skin like Nicolau syndrome happens very rarely. In this condition, Patients typically report acute, intense pain, immediately after drug injection and it is followed by an erythematous macular evolving after 24 hours into a livedoid violaceous patch with dendritic extensions. The study has been reported a case report of a 6-month-old infant who suffered from Nicolau syndrome after the injection of pentavalent vaccine.

A 6-month-old girl infant without a history of any disease was referred to the emergency department with the signs of erythema, edema and purple like discoloration in the vaccine injection site at the left tight, after vaccination. One hour after admission, in the lower limb severe edema along with an extension of a dark red to purple discoloration happened on different parts of foot and after 5 days they turned necrotic. The infant suffered from Nicolau syndrome after the injection of the pentavalent vaccine.

Although Nicolau syndrome is a very rare complication with no definitive treatment but can be prevented and not be aggravated by doing proper method of intramuscular injection and no application of cold compress (aspiration the needle for 5–10 seconds before injecting to make sure not to hit a blood vessel, the proper method of z-track, holding injection immediately if the patient complains excruciating pain on injection site, appropriate length of the needle to reach muscle, and different sites for multiple injections). However, due to lack of supporting evidence, needle aspiration is not recommended because no major vessel runs through the normal vaccination zone and that faster method is less painful. So, the vaccination must be done in right place with an appropriate length of the needle.