Human herpesvirus 7 is latent in gastric mucosa

Chronic gastritis is associated frequently with persistent infection by Hel icobacter pylori. However, not all patients with chronic gastritis have evi dence of H. pylori infection, suggesting that other factors might contribut e to the development of gastritis. The present study was undertaken to eval uate a possible etiologic role of human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7). HHV-7 DNA wa s detected in about 80% of gastric biopsies, both in healthy mucosa from in dividuals without evidence of inflammation and in biopsies from patients wi th histologically confirmed chronic: gastric inflammation. HHV-7 was presen t also in H. pylori negative samples, was associated specifically with gast ric tissue and not with residual blood within the mucosa, and was present w ith high viral loads. HHV-7 DNA persisted in several patients also after re mission of gastric inflammation and the viral presence did not correlate wi th specific symptoms. Analysis by RT-PCR showed that HHV-7 is transcription ally inactive in chronic gastritis lesions. These observations show that ga stric tissue represents a site of HHV-7 latent infection and a potential re servoir for viral reactivation. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.