Acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with HHV-7 infection in an immunocompetent patient: a case report

The association of human herpesvirus-7 with lung diseases is poorly known, although it has been suggested a role in causing interstitial pneumonia in non-transplant patients and bronchiolitis-obliterans-organizing-pneumonia in lung transplant. No case of acute respiratory distress syndrome associated to human herpesvirus-7 has been reported, while only one case associated with human herpesvirus-6 has been described in an immunocompetent patient. This report describes the identification of human herpesvirus-7 reactivation in an immunocompetent patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome, as evidenced by the increasing viral load in bronchoalveolar lavage, polyneuropathy, histopathological findings, and tissue positivity. Human herpesvirus-7 reactivation in this context could be a consequence of the tissue damage due to the underlying lung disease, rather than the cause, as suggested by the temporal profile of viral load on BAL.