title: Risk of transmission of herpesviruses through cord blood transplantation.
abstract: Cord blood (CB) progenitor cells are increasingly used for transplantation in children because of the lower risk of graft-versus-host disease compared with unrelated bone marrow and comparable rates of disease-free survival. There is concern that CB might carry a higher risk of opportunistic infections. Human herpesviruses (HHV) are common pathogens in transplant recipients. CB donors are routinely tested for the presence of anti-cytomegalovirus (CMV) immunoglobulin M to reduce the risk of collecting CMV-infected CB. To assess the incidence of beta and gamma HHV infection of CB collected under standard procedures, we tested 362 CB samples for the presence of CMV; HHV-6, -7, and -8; and Epstein-Barr virus DNA by polymerase chain reaction. HHV-6 DNA was found in 2 samples, yielding an incidence of 0.55% (95% confidence interval, 0.1%-2%). None of the other viral DNAs was found, resulting in a 95% confidence interval of 0% to 1% for the incidence of CMV, Epstein-Barr virus, HHV-7, and HHV-8. Because the seroprevalence of HHV-8 among the CB donors in this study was only 4%, these findings cannot be extended to HHV-8-endemic areas. Our data show that screening prospective CB donors with anti-CMV immunoglobulin M practically eliminates the risk of CB CMV transmission, but HHV-6 warrants CB testing by polymerase chain reaction.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado, USA. Adriana.Weinberg@uchsc.edu
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weinberg
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.forename: Shaobing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dingxia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coll
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Shpall
mesh_terms: D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000821:virology; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016199:Herpesvirus 7, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012306:Risk; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral