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 mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and saliva from 125 HIV-seropositive subjects and 29 HIV-seronegative controls. HHV-6 was detected in saliva significantly more frequently in HIV-seronegative subjects than in HIV-seropositive subjects (p = 0.023), with no significant difference between HIV-seropositive subgroups. The HIV proviral copy number in PBMCs differed significantly according to HIV subgroup, as expected, but did not differ 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 one variant A strain detected in saliva from a healthy subject. These results do not support the hypothesis that there is synergistic activation of HHV-6 infection in the course of HIV infection.