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Human herpesvirus-6 as a possible cause of encephalitis and hemorrhagic cystitis after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Leukemia volume 16, pages 958–959 (2002)Cite this article

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is an increasingly recognized pathogen in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients1 and has recently been reported to cause encephalitis. To date, 13 cases of HHV-6 encephalitis after HSCT have been reported.2,3,4 HHV-6 has been found to have greater susceptibility to ganciclovir and foscarnet. Foscarnet, however, is preferred because of a higher concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and only two cases of encephalitis were treated with just ganciclovir in previous reports.2

Further analyses were performed to reveal the cause of hematuria in case 1. PCR analysis for the HHV-6 variant B from the urine samples showed positive results. No bacterial, fungal or mycobacterial pathogens were detected in the urine samples. DNA PCR6 for BKV and JCV and immunofluorescence staining with anti-adenovirus antibody (mouse monoclonal antibody, Chemicon International, Temecula, CA, USA) from the urine was also negative. Interestingly, an improvement in CNS symptoms also accompanied with a gradual decrease and final disappearance of the hematuria and PCR negativity for HHV-6 in the urine samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-1999-005-F00026).

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  1. Catholic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Center, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

    Y-J Kim, D-W Kim, D-G Lee, S-T Park, Y-H Park, C-K Min, S Lee, J-H Choi, J-W Lee, W-S Min, W-S Shin & C-C Kim

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Kim, YJ., Kim, DW., Lee, DG. et al. Human herpesvirus-6 as a possible cause of encephalitis and hemorrhagic cystitis after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Leukemia 16, 958–959 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402403

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