title: Detection of human herpesvirus-6 DNA by polymerase chain reaction in serum or plasma.
abstract: Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) is a newly identified human pathogen. Currently clinicians rely mainly on blood lymphocyte culture and serological tests to diagnose HHV-6 infection. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out on the plasma or sera of patients to determine the value of PCR in the diagnosis of HHV-6 infection. A total of 30 patients entered the study; 10 were experiencing acute HHV-6 infections and 20 were healthy and served as controls. HHV-6 DNA was detected by PCR in the serum or plasma of the 10 cases with acute HHV-6 infections. All 20 controls had no HHV-6 DNA in their sera. The time for serum to become PCR-positive coincided with the appearance of IgG HHV-6 antibody. The relatively late presence of HHV-6 DNA in serum might result from late lysis of infected cells by immune responses. It is concluded that detection of HHV-6 DNA by PCR in the serum is a valuable tool for the diagnosis of acute and/or active viral infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral