Activation of human herpesvirus‐6 in children with acute measles

Abstract

Virological and serological studies were carried out prospectively to evaluate the possible activation of human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) in 50 infants and children with acute measles by isolation of HHV-6 from peripheral blood and by determining neutralizing antibodies to the virus. All but 5 patients (90%) were seropositive to HHV-6 in the acute stage of measles and 18 (40%) had a significant increase in HHV-6 antibody titers thereafter, whereas only 2 of 27 patients who were initially seropositive to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen (VCA) had a significant rise in antibody titers to EBV VCA. Among 18 patients with a significant increase in HHV-6 titers, the virus was isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of three patients in the early convalescent stage of measles. These results indicate that activation of HHV-6 may occur frequently a few weeks after primary infection with the measles virus.

An Immunoblot Assay for Detection of Immunoglobulin M Antibody to Human Herpesvirus 6

“…Insufficient clinical information was available to assess any atypical clinical features resulting from dual infection in these cases. However, HHV-6 reactivation during the convalescent phase of measles (24), as well as dual primary infections (27), has been reported. In the cases of dual infections, a prolonged skin rash and lack of seroconversion to measles virus was described.…”

The natural history and laboratory diagnosis of human herpesviruses-6 and -7 infections in the immunocompetent

“…HHV-6 reactivation has been described in pregnancy (Dahl et al, 1999), during infection with other viruses such as measles (Suga et al, 1992a) and dengue (Balachandra et al, 1994) and in critically ill but otherwise immunocompetent patients (Desachy et al, 2001). As with the other herpesviruses, HHV-6 reactivation with either variant might be predicted to be largely subclinical in the immunocompetent but nevertheless has been postulated to cause many different diseases (Braun et al, 1997); in particular the link to multiple sclerosis is controversial (Tyler, 2003) and the suggested connection with chronic fatigue syndrome is unconvincing.…”

New aspects of drug‐induced hypersensitivity syndrome

“…Human herpesvirus 6 viremia is detected in graftversus-host disease (GVHD), measles and dengue fever, as well as DIHS. [20][21][22][23][24] HHV-6 reactivation in GVHD is frequently associated with skin rash. 21,22 Measles and dengue fever show clinical features similar to DIHS, such as skin rash, liver dysfunction, lymphadenopathy and the appearance of atypical lymphocytes.…”