Human Herpesvirus 6 Viremia in Bone Marrow Transplant Recipients: Clinical Features and Risk Factors

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection was studied in 82 bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients (72 allogeneic, 10 autologous). All recipients and 30 donors were seropositive for HHV-6 antibody at the time of bone marrow transplantation. Thirty-one recipients (37.8%) had HHV-6 viremia 2-4 weeks after transplantation. The incidence of HHV-6 viremia was significantly higher among allogeneic BMT recipients than in autologous BMT recipients (P=.011). Therefore, the following analyses of allogeneic BMT recipients were carried out (n=72). Geometric mean antibody titers (log(10)) were significantly higher in recipients without viremia than in those with viremia (1.84+/-0.39 vs. 1.61+/-0.42; P=.022). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that leukemia or lymphoma is an independent risk factor (P=.031) for HHV-6 viremia. Rash occurring within 1 month after transplantation was observed in 17 (54.8%) of 31 recipients with HHV-6 viremia but in only 8 (19.5%) of 41 recipients without HHV-6 viremia (P=.001).