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HHV-6B, HHV-7 associated with specific type of seizures
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Human herpesviruses 6B and 7 account for one-third of febrile status epilepticus cases, according to study data published online.
Leon Epstein, MD, a pediatric neurologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and colleagues set out to determine the frequency of herpesvirus (HHV)-6A, HHV-6B and HHV-7 as a cause of febrile status epilepticus (FSE) and whether infection with any of these herpesviruses increases the risk for brain injury and epilepsy.
Epstein and colleagues enrolled 199 children aged 1 month to 5 years who presented with FSE and received an assessment for HHV infection within 72 hours of the episode. Viremia was detected using polymerase chain reaction that identified the presence of HHV-6A, HHV-6B or HHV-7A DNA and RNA.
The researchers reported that one-third of children with FSE had HHV-6 or HHV-7 viremia. HHV-6B viremia was detected in 32% of pediatric patients in the study, with 38 and 16 children having primary and reactivated infection, respectively. The researchers reported that 7% of children had HHV-7 viremia at baseline and two children had HHV-6/7 primary coinfection. There were no apparent differences in age, illness type, fever, seizure structures or acute imagining abnormalities in children with or without one of the herpesviruses.
The researchers said examining the interaction between HHV and FSE is important because FSA is known to be “associated with an increased risk of both hippocampal injury and subsequent temporal lobe epilepsy.”
Disclosure: Dr. Epstein reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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