Foscarnet-resistant cytomegalovirus esophagitis with stricturing

We report the case of a 52-year-old man with HIV-AIDS, non-complaint with highly active antiretroviral therapy, who presented with long-standing dysphagia. He was treated for three episodes of severe Candida esophagitis with fluconazole and later caspofungin due to poor response. In spite of the prolonged treatment courses the patient did not report an improvement in his symptoms. He was also concomitantly being treated for other opportunistic infections including cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis with i.v. foscarnet for almost 2 months prior to the index presentation. Upper esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed multiple superficial ulcers with stricturing. Bougie dilatation was attempted but failed. The biopsy specimens revealed multiple intracellular inclusion bodies pathognomonic of CMV infection. We aim to highlight the increasing resistance of CMV to conventional first-line antiviral agents such as foscarnet.