Drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms and graft‐versus‐host disease developing sequentially in a patient

Summary We describe a case of drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) developing sequentially in a patient displaying reactivation of CMV. We discuss the possibility that similar pathogenic mechanisms may be involved in the development of DRESS and GvHD. Drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a severe acute drug reaction characterized by a polymorphic skin eruption associated with fever, eosinophilia, lymphadenopathy and multiorgan involvement. 1 The development of DRESS has been associated with reactivation of herpesviruses. 2,3 This relationship is similar to the relationship between herpesvirus reactivation and the development of graftversus-host disease (GvHD). 4 We report a case of DRESS and GvHD developing sequentially in a patient displaying reactivation of cytomegalovirus (CMV).