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Fulminant demyelinating encephalomyelitis associated with productive HHV‐6 infection in an immunocompetent adult
Author(s) -
Novoa Louis J.,
Nagra Rashed M.,
Nakawatase Tomoko,
EdwardsLee Terri,
Tourtellotte Wallace W.,
Cornford Marcia E.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9071(199707)52:3<301::aid-jmv11>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - virology , fulminant , encephalomyelitis , acute disseminated encephalomyelitis , demyelinating disease , medicine , immunology , multiple sclerosis
Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV‐6), the etiologic agent of roseola in young children, has been reported to be detectable in the brain of many neurologically normal adults, although regional localization to plaques of multiple sclerosis has also been demonstrated. Large amounts of this virus were present in multifocal demyelinating white matter lesions of fulminant encephalomyelitis with seizures in a 21‐year‐old woman with normal immune parameters. Brain biopsy after 3 weeks of neurologic deterioration revealed a viral etiology by light and electron microscopy; the virus was identified as HHV‐6 by immunohistochemistry and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification in biopsy and autopsy specimens. J. Med. Virol. 52:301–308, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.