RATE OF DETECTION OF HUMAN HERPESVIRUS-6 AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF HIV-INFECTION

In a cross-sectional study, human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) infection was analysed by means of polymerase chain reaction in peripheral blood mon onuclear cells (PBMCs) and saliva from 125 HIV-seropositive subjects a nd 29 HIV-seronegative controls. HHV-6 was detected in saliva signific antly more frequently in HIV-seronegative subjects than in HIV-seropos itive subjects (p = 0.023), with no significant difference between HIV -seropositive subgroups. The HIV proviral copy number in PBMCs differe d significantly according to HIV subgroup, as expected, but did not di ffer according to either the presence of HHV-6 or the number of HHV-6 copies in PBMCs. All the HHV-6 identified were variant B except for on e variant A strain detected in saliva from a healthy subject. These re sults do not support the hypothesis that there is synergistic activati on of HHV-6 infection in the course of HIV infection.