Herpesvirus type 1-8 in sinus aspirates from HIV-infected patients and immunocompetent individuals

Sinusitis is frequently occuring in HIV-infected patients, but in a substan tial number of cases the etiology is unknown. The purpose of this study was by PCR 1) to determine the prevalence of the eight human herpesviruses in sinus aspirates from 24 HIV-positive/AIDS patients with sinusitis 2) to rel ate the presence of herpesvirus DNA to clinical and parameters and 3) to co mpare the prevalence of herpesvirus DNA in sinus aspirates from HIV-infecte d patients with the prevalence observed in 50 immunocompetent patients with sinusitis. DNA from HSV-I, EBV CMV and HHV-8 was detected in 8 (33%) of th e sinus aspirates from HIV-infected patients. In the immunocompetent patien ts, one of the herpesviruses, HHV-6, was found in one sinus aspirate. These data indicate that herpesviruses are frequently found in sinus aspirates f rom HN-infected patients with sinusitis, whereas they do not seem to be rel ated to clinical signs of sinusitis in immunocompetent individuals. The cau se of these discrepancies may be due to uncontrolled reactivation of herpes viruses, which is known to occur in immunocompromised individuals. It remai ns to be established whether the herpesviruses pay a pathogenic Pole in the development of sinusitis in HIV-infected patients.