title: Prevalence of human herpesvirus-6B in Korean hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients.
abstract: Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) is a major pathogen associated with diseases of recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT). We have isolated HHV-6 in Korean HSCT recipients and carried out a prospective investigation of its prevalence. We obtained peripheral blood from HSCT recipients who had signs of HHV-6 infection. Cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) and Sup-T1 cells were used to culture the HHV-6. Indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFA), and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were employed to detect HHV-6. The prevalence of HHV-6 infection in HSCT recipients was calculated on the basis of the PCR results. HHV-6 was isolated from four clinical samples. After culturing the HHV-6 in CBMC, the standard strain and the four clinical isolates were propagated in Sup-T1 cells. The infected cells became grossly enlarged and multinucleate after 7-21 days. The virus was identified primarily on the basis of the morphological changes of the cultured cells, and confirmed by specific IFA with monoclonal antibody to HHV-6. HHV-6 was detected in each sample by PCR with primers specific for the major immediate early gene. Sequencing of the standard strain and PCR products confirmed identification of the HHV-6B variant. By PCR we detected 415 instances of HHV-6 in 3966 samples (14.6% of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and 6.3% of sera), and HHV-6 DNAemia was most frequent from the second to the fourth week after HSCT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Gun
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sang Tae
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Su Mi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Seung Han
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jung Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jin Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Seung Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Gyu Cheol
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Soon Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Paik
authors.forename: Wan Shik
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Chun Choo
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral