HHV-6 a Possible Cofactor in AIDS Retinitis, Maybe in AIDS Itself

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

HHV-6 a Possible Cofactor in AIDS Retinitis, Maybe in AIDS Itself

Reuters (10/01/96)

Abstract: Two new studies provide evidence that human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) plays a role in AIDS-associated retinitis, and may even be a cofactor with HIV in the pathogenesis of AIDS. Anne -Marie Fillet and her colleagues in Paris suspected the presence of "an etiological link between HHV-6 and AIDS- associated retinitis" because of the "ubiquitous nature of HHV -6 and its genomic relationship with cytomegalovirus." They report in the Journal of Medical Virology that HHV-6 was found to be present in three cases of AIDS-associated retinitis, but not in a control group and concluded that "HHV-6 infects the retina but ... does not have an exclusive causative role in AIDS-associated retinitis. Meanwhile, another group of researchers, led by Donald R. Carrigan, report in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes and Human Retrovirology that their research shows that "at the time of autopsy every patient with AIDS has an active infection with HHV-6 in essentially every tissue." The researchers conclude, therefore, that HHV-6A, a particular strain of the virus, is a necessary, but not sufficient, component in the pathogenesis of AIDS.

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