Frequent shedding of human herpesvirus 6 in saliva

Abstract

We have previously reported the isolation of HHV-6 from saliva samples. Because these isolations were made in PHA-stimulated lymphocytes from healthy adults, which may occasionally contain endogenous HHV-6, it was desirable to repeat this work using cord blood lymphocytes. In this study 18 isolations of viruses provisionally characterized as HHV-6 were made from 19 saliva samples by centrifugally enhanced inoculation into PHA-stimulated cord blood lymphocytes. HHV-6 was not found in 10 pernasal aspirates, 50 endocervical swabs, or 30 male urethral swabs. It is concluded that HHV-6 is usually present in the saliva of most adults and that this affords a possible explanation of the high infection rate with this virus in young children.

The Genome of Human Herpesvirus 6: Maps of Unit-length and Concatemeric Genomes for Nine Restriction Endonucleases

“…HHV-6 has since been isolated from the peripheral blood of HIV-infected individuals in Uganda (strain U1102) (Downing et al, 1987), The Gambia (strain A J) (Tedder et al, 1987) and Zaire (strain Z29) (Lopez et al, 1988). The virus has also been recovered from the saliva of healthy adults (Pietroboni et al, 1988;Harnett et al, 1990;Levy et al, 1990) and from the peripheral blood of individuals immunocompromised following organ transplantation (Ward et al, 1989).…”

Seroprevalence of Human Herpesvirus 6 Infection in Brazilian and Japanese Populations in the North‐East of Brazil

“…HHV-6 persists in the cervical lymphnodes of normal adults as well as patients with necrotizing lymphoadenitis (7) and it is reactivated in immunosuppressed renal transplant recipients (22). HHV-6 has been recovered from the saliva of healthy adults (9,15,23). In fact, HHV-6 genomes are detectable by polymerase chain reaction in throat swabs of asymptomatic individuals (8,11).…”

Human Herpesvirus-6: Neurologic Implications of a Newly-Described Viral Pathogen

“…Though the mode(s) of transmission of HHV-6 has yet to be de®nitively proven, most children probably acquire infection through contact with the secretions of adult caretakers shedding the virus in saliva Gopal et al, 1990;Harnett et al, 1990;Krueger et al, 1990;Levy et al, 1990b). Reports of isolation of HHV-6 from the saliva of healthy adults Levy et al, 1990b) and patients infected with HIV (Levy et al, 1990b) document salivary shedding in more than 85% of persons.…”