Background
Oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) is a disease of the mucosa first described in 1984. This pathology is associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and occurs mostly in people with HIV infection, including those who do not have a diagnosis of AIDS. HIV-negative people can have oral hairy leukoplakia, especially individuals with organ transplants and other immunocompromised disease.
The condition has also been reported in individuals not immunocompromised.
The first case in an HIV-negative patient was reported in 1999 in a 56-year-old patient with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Later, many cases were reported in heart, kidney, and bone marrow transplant recipients and in patients with hematological malignancies.