Multicentric Castleman disease in an HHV-8-infected child born to consanguineous parents

Childhood multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) is a rare and unexplained lymphoproliferative disorder. We report a human herpesvirus- 8 (HHV-8)-infected child, born to consanguineous Comorian parents, who displayed isolated MCD in the absence of any known immunodeficiency. We also systematically review the clinical features of the 32 children previously reported with isolated and unexplained MCD. The characteristics of this patient and the geographic areas of origin of most previous cases suggest that pediatric MCD is associated with HHV-8 infection. Moreover, as previously suggested for Kaposi sarcoma, MCD in childhood may result from inborn errors of immunity to HHV-8 infection.