ABSTRACT
The gammaherpesviruses play a key role in the malignancies that led to the recognition of HIV infection. The occurrence of rare cancers-Kaposi’s sarcoma and aggressive B-cell lymphoma-in men who have sex with men and who also developed opportunistic infections attracted attention to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and ultimately gave it a definition (1-6). Among the aggressive B-cell lymphomas that were recognized early on as AIDS defining, primary central nervous lymphoma was ultimately recognized to be nearly uniformly associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Since that time, much has been learned about EBV in HIV-infected patients. EBV is linked with benign and malignant diseases. The associations are often not what might be predicted. This chapter summarizes what is known about EBV and EBV-associated disease in HIV-infected patients (Table 1).
