An Interleukin‐6–Related Systemic Inflammatory Syndrome in Patients Co‐Infected with Kaposi Sarcoma–Associated Herpesvirus and HIV but without Multicentric Castleman Disease

A subset of patients with HIV and KSHV co-infection, but without MCD, can develop severe systemic inflammatory symptoms associated with elevated levels of KSHV vIL-6, IL-6, and KSHV viral loads. Excess lytic activation of KSHV, production of the lytic gene product vIL6, and associated immunologic dysregulation may underlie the pathophysiology of these symptoms. This IL-6-related inflammatory syndrome is important to consider in critically ill patients with HIV and KSHV co-infection.