Black esophagus is defined as a dark, pigmented esophagus at endoscopy together with histologic mucosal necrosis. 1 Goldenberg SP Wain SL Marignani P Acute necrotizing esophagitis. Gastroenterology. 1990; 98: 493-496 PubMed Google Scholar It is a rare entity, first described at autopsy. 1 Goldenberg SP Wain SL Marignani P Acute necrotizing esophagitis. Gastroenterology. 1990; 98: 493-496 PubMed Google Scholar , 2 Geller A Aguilar H Burgart L Gostout CJ The black esophagus. Am J Gastroenterol. 1995; 90: 2210-2212 PubMed Google Scholar The etiology remains unknown but is most likely multifactorial, even though most reports have suggested an ischemic pathogenesis. 1 Goldenberg SP Wain SL Marignani P Acute necrotizing esophagitis. Gastroenterology. 1990; 98: 493-496 PubMed Google Scholar , 2 Geller A Aguilar H Burgart L Gostout CJ The black esophagus. Am J Gastroenterol. 1995; 90: 2210-2212 PubMed Google Scholar , 3 Cummings DR Acute necrotizing esophagitis [letter]. Gastroenterology. 1990; 99: 1193 PubMed Google Scholar , 4 Tuso P Marignani P Necrotizing duodenitis: a stress-associated lesion?. J Clin Gastroenterol. 1990; 12: 29-32 Crossref PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar , 5 Benhaim-Iseni MC Brenet P Petite JP Acute necrotizing esophagitis: another case. Gastroenterology. 1991; 101: 281-282 PubMed Google Scholar , 6 Robert JY Raoul JL Bretagne JF Nouel O Faroux R Daigre JL et al. Black esophagus: three new cases. Gastroenterol Clin Biol. 1993; 17: 298-301 PubMed Google Scholar , 7 Goldenberg SP Wain SL Marignani P Reply to Benhaim-Iseni MC, Brenet P, Petite JP. Gastroenterology. 1991; 101: 281-282 PubMed Google Scholar An esophageal viral infection has been proposed but never confirmed. 8 MacDonald GB Acute necrotizing esophagitis [letter]. Gastroenterology. 1990; 98: 1193 PubMed Google Scholar We report here a case of black esophagus associated with a proven herpetic infection that healed after antiviral therapy.