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Fulminant human herpesvirus six encephalitis in a human immunodeficiency virus‐infected infant
Author(s) -
Knox Konstance K.,
Harrington Daniel P.,
Carrigan Donald R.
Publication year - 1995
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/jmv.1890450309
Subject(s) - fulminant , virology , encephalitis , virus , biology , human herpesvirus 6 , polymerase chain reaction , viral disease , alphaherpesvirinae , central nervous system , herpesviridae , immunohistochemistry , immunology , pathology , medicine , biochemistry , neuroscience , gene
Self‐limited involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) is a relatively common complication of primary infection with human herpesvirus six (HHV‐6) in normal children. We describe an HIV‐infected infant who developed fulminant encephalitis as a complication of HHV‐6 infection. Immunohistochemical staining of CNS tissue demonstrated productive infection of all CNS cell‐types. Analysis of the infected brain tissue by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed the presence of a dense HHV‐6 infection in the tissue, and demonstrated that the virus present in the CNS tissue was predominantly the A variant of HHV‐6. This is the first demonstration of invasive tissue disease caused by HHV‐6 in an HIV‐infected infant. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.