Acute retinal necrosis associated with Epstein-Barr virus: immunohistopathologic confirmation.

Acute retinal necrosis (ARN) is an infectious retinitis primarily caused by the herpesviruses. Although the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated as a cause of ARN, to our knowledge, there has been no histopathologic documentation. We report the clinical history and histopathologic confirmation that EBV can cause ARN. Clinical course and histopathology of a patient diagnosed with ARN caused by infection with EBV confirmed by molecular pathology. Epstein-Barr virus is a recognized cause of intraocular inflammation and has been implicated as a possible cause of ARN. However, to our knowledge, tissue demonstration of EBV in a patient with ARN has not previously been reported. We identified the organism in the necrotic retina of a patient receiving immunosuppression because of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.