Monitoring human herpesvirus-6 in patients with autologous stem cell transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
Due to the increasing number of immunocompromised patients and widely used autologous stem cell transplantation procedures, clinicians have to face with the emergence of infectious diseases. In this setting, we mainly focus our interest on cytomegalovirus (CMV) testing and only in some cases on other herpesviruses (HHV). Herein, we present monitoring of HHV-6 virus re-activation and infection in patients after autologous stem cell transplantation.


METHODS
One hundred and twenty-one blood and 2 cerebrospinal fluid specimens from 35 patients were tested for the presence of HHV-6 DNA.


RESULTS
In 4 patients, a positive HHV-6 signal was detected. In 1 patient, simultaneous detection of CMV and HHV-6 could be observed; however, a low copy number result during CMV testing was obtained. Delayed engraftment or other clinical signs of infection could not be detected in patients with a positive HHV-6 result, except in the case of patient 4 who had limbic encephalitis due to HHV-6 reactivation.


CONCLUSIONS
Because of the possible severe manifestations of HHV-6 infection in immunocompromised patients, screening of HHV-6 infection or reactivation is recommended as part of the routine laboratory procedure.
Second Department of Medicine and Cardiology Centre, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
Klára
K
Piukovics
Second Department of Medicine and Cardiology Centre, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
Zita
Z
Borbényi
Neurology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
Cecilia
C
Rajda
Euromedic Diagnostic Center, Szeged, Hungary.
Angéla
A
Csomor
Institute of Clinical Microbiology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
Judit
J
Deák
Institute of Clinical Microbiology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary terhesga@gmail.com.
Gabriella
G
Terhes
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D060085:Coinfection; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000821:virology; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning / Q000009:adverse effects; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D055815:Young Adult
HHV-6; autologous transplantation; encephalitis; herpes; immunocompromised; infection