Herpesvirus type 1–8 in BAL fluid from HIV-1-infected patients with suspected pneumonia and from healthy individuals

Abstract

Pneumonia is still a major problem in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, and despite extensive investigation the aetiology remains unknown in many cases. The prevalence of the eight human herpesviruses was determined by polymerase chain reaction in 91 samples of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from 72 HIV-infected patients with 91 episodes of suspected pneumonia. The presence of herpesviruses was related to clinical and immunological findings and the prevalence of herpesviruses in HIV-infected patients was compared with the prevalence in BAL fluid from 50 healthy, immunocompetent individuals.Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus and human herpesvirus-8 (HHV8) were found in 5.5%, 36%, and 5.5% of BAL fluid samples from HIV-infected patients. No herpesviruses were detectable in BAL fluid from healthy, immunocompetent individuals. The herpesviruses occurred mainly in patients with CD4z counts v200610 6 L -1 . All patients with herpesviruses recovered without specific antiviral treatment. Two patients with HHV8 had the diagnosis of Kaposi9s sarcoma.It is concluded that cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, and human herpesvirus-8 are frequently present in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from severely immunocompromised human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with pulmonary symptoms. In bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from healthy, immunocompetent individuals, herpesviruses are absent. Apart from human herpesvirus-8, the present results indicate that the herpesviruses do not play a serious pathogenic role in the development of pulmonary symptoms in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients.

Prevalence of Human Herpes Viruses in Bronchoalveolar Lavage of Critically Ill Children Undergoing Mechanical Ventilation at a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

“…However, other researchers have failed to find any differences (3,12,30). Thus, the clinical importance of HHVs infection in critically ill patients, is a subject of discussion and needs further well-designed observational studies (27,(30)(31)(32).…”

A novel method for distinguishing between dsDNA and ssRNA virus infections

“…However, human herpesviruses that are the most probable cause of meningitis/encephalitis (Logan and MacMahon, 2008) and that can also cause severe pneumonia in patients with impaired immunity, such as those with AIDS (Tarp et al, 2001), organ transplant recipients (Cunha et al, 2007), and people receiving chemotherapy (Ferrari et al, 2005), are not treatable with antibiotics. It is general knowledge that treating viral illnesses with antibiotics is ineffective, and contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance, leading to increasing medical costs.…”

Evidence of inability of human cytomegalovirus to reactivate Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus from latency in body cavity-based lymphocytes

“…Human herpes viruses mostly cause latent infection in immune-competent populations and results in disease when reactivated by many different environmental conditions (28). Several herpes viruses might infect the same person because many of them have high infection incidence.…”