We recently evidenced a dramatic enrichment for T cells reactive against Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) within inflamed joints of two rheumatoid arthritis patients. To assess the generality of this phenomenon and its relevance to autoimmunity, we studied the responses of CD8 T cells from patients with either acute or chronic inflammatory diseases (rheumatoid arthritis: n = 18, ankylosing spondylitis: n = 5, psoriatic arthritis: n = 4, Reiter's syndrome: n = 3, arthrosis: n = 2, uveitis: n = 2, multiple sclerosis: n = 2, encephalitis: n = 1) against viral proteins derived from EBV and another common herpes virus, human cytomegalovirus (CMV). T cell responses against EBV and/or CMV epitopes were frequently observed within CD8 T cells derived from chronic inflammatory lesions, irrespective of their location (knee, eye, brain) and autoimmune features. In most cases, CD8 T cells derived from affected organs yielded stronger anti‐viral T cell responses than CD8 T cells derived from patients' PBL, even in chronic inflammatory diseases devoid of autoimmune features or induced by defined bacterial agents. Taken together, these results suggest that the presence of virus‐specific T cells within inflamed lesions of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases is a general phenomenon associated with chronic inflammation rather than the initiating cause of the autoimmune process. Since this phenomenon was sometimes associated with long‐term T repertoire biases within inflamed lesions, the physiopathological significance of T cell clonal expansions found in a recurrent fashion within chronically inflamed autoimmune lesions should be interpreted with caution.