Abstract
A complex pattern of neurological dysfunctions with generalized seizures and visual allucinations, but without focal signs, suddenly arose 20 days after an unrelated bone marrow transplant for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in a 13-year-old girl, accompanied by signs of acute skin graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed multiple bilateral foci of signal abnormalities, which were exclusively localized in the grey matter, sparing the white. Extensive microbiological and virological assays of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) allowed the identification of HHV-6, variant A, DNA. Further progression of both neurological alterations and of skin and gut GVHD led to a fatal outcome 2 weeks later. A retrospective analysis of both the recipient and donor mononuclear cell suspensions supported the hypothesis that HHV-6 had been acquired from the donor with the bone marrow graft. This report suggests a pathogenetic role of HHV-6 in viral encephalitis in immunocompromised bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients, and its possible association with GVHD.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bosi, A., Zazzi, M., Amantini, A. et al. Fatal herpesvirus 6 encephalitis after unrelated bone marrow transplant. Bone Marrow Transplant 22, 285–288 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1701326
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1701326
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Opportunistic Infections of the Central Nervous System in the Transplant Patient
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports (2013)
-
Effectiveness of ganciclovir against human herpesvirus-6 excreted in saliva in stem cell transplant recipients
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2007)
-
Human herpesvirus-6 encephalitis followed by severe acute GVHD after a stem cell transplant from a microchimeric non-inherited maternal antigen (NIMA)-mismatched sibling
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2005)