Abstract
Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) persists in the central nervous system, but its prevalence in the peripheral nervous system, a preferred latency site for herpesviruses, has not been studied. Using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the authors determined the distribution of HHV-6 in human sensory ganglia. HHV-6 was present in 30% of trigeminal, 40% of geniculate, 25% of vestibular, and 55% of dorsal root ganglia. It cooccurred with alphaherpesviruses (herpes simplex virus type 1 or varicellazoster virus) in 91% of the ganglia. As HHV-6 positivity did not depend on the presence of inflammatory cells, known to harbor the virus, HHV-6 probably resides in the ganglia themselves.
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This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to D.T. and T.D. (TH 894) and from the Munchner Medizinische Wochenschrift to K.H.
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Hüfner, K., Arbusow, V., Himmelein, S. et al. The prevalence of human herpesvirus 6 in human sensory ganglia and its co-occurrence with alpha-herpesviruses. Journal of NeuroVirology 13, 462–467 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1080/13550280701447059
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13550280701447059