Introduction
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) v is a double-stranded γ-DNA herpesvirus of B lymphocytes[1]. In general, the younger population is more susceptible, as acute infection is common in children and adolescents and rare in adults[1]. The disease course is usually less than 1 month, and the clinical course is self-limited with a favourable prognosis[1-2]. However, the virus then targets B lymphocytes for its life cycle, and in immunocompetent individuals, EBV can reenter the lytic infection phase by latent infection[3-6]. Viruses can infect not only B lymphocytes but also T or natural killer (NK) cells[1-6]. Clinically, there are systemic symptoms such as chronic or recurrent fever, hepatosplenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy, as well as damage to different organs/tissues caused by active viral replication; this is referred to as chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV) infection[3-6]. Some cases involve the intestine and exhibit intestinal symptoms, that is, CAEBV infection involving the intestine (with systemic symptoms), which, in the absence of a basis for malignant lymphoproliferative disease, may also be referred to as chronic active EBV infection-associated enteritis (CAEAE)[4,6]. In recent years, CAEAE has gained increasing attention. We performed a literature report and analysed and summarized the clinical features, differential diagnoses, prognoses, etc., to increase awareness and improve the diagnosis of this class of diseases among clinicians.