ORIGINAL ARTICLE Chronic Human Herpes Virus 8 Infection Successfully Treated with Valganciclovir

Background: A 57 year old Italian female with a 3 year history of constituitional symptoms with non-HIV Kaposi sarcoma was re-ferred to the immunology clinic. She was previously diagnosed with chronic human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) infection with positive HHV8 polymerase chain reaction in serum. Objective: Is valganciclovir effective in treating chronic human herpes virus 8 infection without Multicentric Castleman’s Disease (MCD)? Results: She was started on valganciclovir, resulting in remission of her symptoms, improvement in inflammatory markers and clearing of detectable HHV8 viraemia Conclusion: Valganciclovir is effective in treating symptomatic HHV8 infections without MCD. Key Words: human herpes virus 8, valganciclovir, Kaposi sarcom