COINFECTION WITH HUMAN HERPESVIRUS-6 VARIANT-A AND VARIANT-B IN LUNG-TISSUE

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) variant B is frequently identified in peri pheral blood, but identification of HHV-6 variant A is relatively rare . We devised a PCR-based method for sensitive, simultaneous detection of both HHV-6 variants. The method was applied to 34 lung tissue speci mens that were previously shown to contain HHV-6 DNA, A total of 22 lu ng tissue samples showed coinfections with HHV-6 variants A and B, 2 h ad only HHV-6 variant A DNA, and 10 had only HHV-6 variant B DNA. The prevalences of coinfections in lung tissues from healthy controls (54% coinfected) and in those from bone marrow transplant patients with pn eumonia (67% coinfected) were similar. These data indicate that coinfe ctions of HHV-6 variants A and B commonly occur in lung tissues of hea lthy and diseased individuals.