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Human herpes virus-6 encephalitis in a paediatric bone marrow recipient: successful treatment with pharmacokinetic monitoring and high doses of ganciclovir

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 38, pages 769–770 (2006)Cite this article

Like other herpes viruses, human herpes virus (HHV)-6 remains in a latent state after primary infection. Reactivation of infection can occur in immunodeficient situations1, 2 and causes fever, rash, pneumonitis, hepatis and, in some cases, encephalitis.1, 3, 4 In in vitro studies, ganciclovir (GCV), foscarnet and cidofovir have demonstrated an inhibitory effect against HHV-6, whereas acyclovir is only marginally effective and should not be used for this indication.5 Yoshida et al.5 have determined GCV 50% effective inhibitory concentrations (IC50) in cord blood mononuclear cells to be at least 0.65 and 1.33 μg/ml (dependant on the virus strain). Despite the lack of controlled trials of antiviral treatment, several case reports have demonstrated GCV treatment as prophylactic6, 7 or curative1, 8, 9 therapy for HHV-6 infections.

We report here the case of a 7-year-old patient, who reactivated HHV-6 virus after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and was successfully treated with high doses of GCV.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmacy Department, Debrousse Hospital, Lyon, France

    A Janoly-Duménil, T Basset & N Bleyzac

  2. Paediatric Haematology Department, Debrousse Hospital, Lyon, France

    C Galambrun, V Mialou & Y Bertrand

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  1. A Janoly-Duménil
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  2. C Galambrun
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  3. T Basset
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Correspondence to N Bleyzac.

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Janoly-Duménil, A., Galambrun, C., Basset, T. et al. Human herpes virus-6 encephalitis in a paediatric bone marrow recipient: successful treatment with pharmacokinetic monitoring and high doses of ganciclovir. Bone Marrow Transplant 38, 769–770 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705518

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