diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 508e684f..14db3f54 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -139,7 +139,8 @@ Changes in current version:
  o Refactor internal notify-main-thread logic to prefer eventfd to pipe, then pipe to socketpair, and only use socketpairs as a last resort.
  o Try harder to pack all evbuffer reads into as few chains as possible, using readv/WSARecv as appropriate.
  o New evthread_use_windows_threads() and evthread_use_pthreads() functions to set up the evthread callbacks with reasonable defaults.
-
+ o Change the semantics of timeouts in conjunction with EV_PERSIST; timeouts in that case will now repeat until deleted.
+	
 Changes in 1.4.0:
  o allow \r or \n individually to separate HTTP headers instead of the standard "\r\n"; from Charles Kerr.
  o demote most http warnings to debug messages
diff --git a/event-internal.h b/event-internal.h
index 3d0134f3..8ee32f4b 100644
--- a/event-internal.h
+++ b/event-internal.h
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ extern "C" {
 
 /* mutually exclusive */
 #define ev_signal_next	_ev.ev_signal.ev_signal_next
+
 #define ev_io_next	_ev.ev_io.ev_io_next
+#define ev_io_timeout	_ev.ev_io.ev_timeout
 
 /* used only by signals */
 #define ev_ncalls	_ev.ev_signal.ev_ncalls
diff --git a/event.c b/event.c
index 4a577b9d..7bcbe75e 100644
--- a/event.c
+++ b/event.c
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ static void	timeout_correct(struct event_base *, struct timeval *);
 
 static void	event_signal_closure(struct event_base *, struct event *ev);
 static void	event_periodic_closure(struct event_base *, struct event *ev);
+static void	event_persist_closure(struct event_base *, struct event *ev);
 
 static int evthread_notify_base(struct event_base *base);
 
@@ -572,6 +573,15 @@ event_periodic_closure(struct event_base *base, struct event *ev)
 	(*ev->ev_callback)((int)ev->ev_fd, ev->ev_res, ev->ev_arg);
 }
 
+static void
+event_persist_closure(struct event_base *base, struct event *ev)
+{
+	/* reschedule the persistent event if we have a timeout */
+	if (ev->ev_io_timeout.tv_sec || ev->ev_io_timeout.tv_usec)
+		event_add(ev, &ev->ev_io_timeout);
+	(*ev->ev_callback)((int)ev->ev_fd, ev->ev_res, ev->ev_arg);
+}
+
 static void
 event_signal_closure(struct event_base *base, struct event *ev)
 {
@@ -904,7 +914,12 @@ event_set(struct event *ev, evutil_socket_t fd, short events,
 			    __func__);
 		ev->ev_closure = event_signal_closure;
 	} else {
-		ev->ev_closure = NULL;
+		if (events & EV_PERSIST) {
+			timerclear(&ev->ev_io_timeout);
+			ev->ev_closure = event_persist_closure;
+		} else {
+			ev->ev_closure = NULL;
+		}
 	}
 
 	min_heap_elem_init(ev);
@@ -1127,6 +1142,13 @@ event_add_internal(struct event *ev, const struct timeval *tv)
 	if (res != -1 && tv != NULL) {
 		struct timeval now;
 
+		/*
+		 * for persistent timeout events, we remember the
+		 * timeout value and re-add the event.
+		 */
+		if (ev->ev_closure == event_persist_closure)
+			ev->ev_io_timeout = *tv;
+
 		/* 
 		 * we already reserved memory above for the case where we
 		 * are not replacing an exisiting timeout.
diff --git a/include/event2/event_struct.h b/include/event2/event_struct.h
index 331b64a0..e33738d2 100644
--- a/include/event2/event_struct.h
+++ b/include/event2/event_struct.h
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ struct event {
 		/* used for io events */
 		struct {
 			TAILQ_ENTRY (event) (ev_io_next);
+			struct timeval ev_timeout;
 		} ev_io;
 
 		/* used by signal events */
diff --git a/test/regress.c b/test/regress.c
index 033f61e1..00fc8f92 100644
--- a/test/regress.c
+++ b/test/regress.c
@@ -507,6 +507,29 @@ test_periodictimeout(void)
 	cleanup_test();
 }
 
+static void
+test_persistent_timeout(void)
+{
+	struct timeval tv;
+	struct event ev;
+	int count = 0;
+
+	setup_test("Periodic timeout via EV_PERSIST: ");
+
+	timerclear(&tv);
+	tv.tv_usec = 10000;
+
+	event_assign(&ev, global_base, -1, EV_TIMEOUT|EV_PERSIST,
+	    periodic_timeout_cb, &count);
+	event_add(&ev, &tv);
+
+	event_dispatch();
+
+	event_del(&ev);
+
+	cleanup_test();
+}
+
 #ifndef WIN32
 static void signal_cb(int fd, short event, void *arg);
 
@@ -2310,6 +2333,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
 	util_suite();
 
 	test_periodictimeout();
+	test_persistent_timeout();
 
 	/* use the global event base and need to be called first */
 	test_priorities(1);