Human herpes virus-6 as a cause of recurrent posterior uveitis in a HIV-positive patient.
OBJECTIVE
To report a case of bilateral recurrent posterior uveitis caused by human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6) in a human immunodeficiency virus-positive individual.


METHODS
Comprehensive ophthalmic examination, including imaging with optical coherence tomography, fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography, and adequate laboratory tests were performed. A human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient without any AIDS defining condition, with a history of recurrent bilateral posterior uveitis referred to us with the diagnosis of retinal detachment.


RESULTS
Vitreous polymerase chain reaction detected an aberrant band for herpes viruses, which proved to be human herpes virus-6 by repeated polymerase chain reactions. Serum antibodies titer was positive for human herpes virus-6. The patient responded well to antiviral therapy with valacyclovir.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first case of human herpes virus-6-related bilateral posterior uveitis in a human immunodeficiency virus-positive individual without clinical manifestations of AIDS.
*Department of Ophthalmology, Ocular Immunology and Inflammation Service, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece †1st Department of Ophthalmology, University of Athens, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece ‡Department of Internal Medicine, "Tzaneion" General Hospital of Pireaus, Piraeus, Greece §Department of Internal Medicine, Tzaneion General Hospital of Pireaus, Pireaus, Greece.
Panagiotis
P
Malamos
Stelios
S
Maselos
Konstantinos
K
Andrianopoulos
Ilias
I
Georgalas
Georgios
G
Chryssos
Nikos N
NN
Markomichelakis