Multifocal choroiditis secondary to the reactivation of epstein-barr virus

Retin Cases Brief Rep. 2011 Fall;5(4):360-2. doi: 10.1097/ICB.0b013e3182160939.

Abstract

Purpose: To describe a case of multifocal choroiditis associated with Epstein-Barr virus reactivation in a patient who had previously had documented infectious mononucleosis.

Methods: Color photos, fluorescein angiography, autofluorescence, indocyanine green angiography, and high-definition optical coherence tomography imaging was performed. A 39-year-old woman presented with a central scotoma in her left eye. At 19 years of age, she developed a peripapillary choroidal neovascular complex in her right eye, which was treated by laser photocoagulation. Two weeks before her visual complaint, she suffered from a frontal headache, occipital lymphadenopathy, and splenomegaly.

Results: Laboratory studies revealed markedly elevated immunoglobulin G titers to Epstein-Barr virus and she recalled a history of infectious mononucleosis at 20 years of age.

Conclusion: While primary infection may manifest as infectious mononucleosis, like other viruses in the herpes virus family, there may be reactivation of the virus later in life.