We looked for human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and HHV-7 genomes in the cer
vixes of pregnant women in the late stages of their pregnancies. Of 72
samples collected with cervical swabs and amplified by nested PCR, we
found that 14 (19.4%) and 2 (2.7%) contained detectable HHV-6 and HHV
-7 genomes, respectively. The two samples in which HHV-7 DNA was detec
ted also contained HHV-6 genomes. Hybridization of HHV-6 DNA amplified
by PCR with variant-specific probes revealed that all of these DNA sa
mples belonged to variant type B. These results indicated that HHV-6 a
nd/or HHV-7 exists in the cervixes of infected women in late pregnancy
and may cause perinatal infection.