Portolani M, Leoni S, Guerra A, Cermelli C, Mantovani G, Pietrosemoli P, Meacci M, Sabbatini A M, Pecorari M
Servizio di Virologia, Università degli Studi, Modena.
Minerva Pediatr. 1998 Jan-Feb;50(1-2):39-44.
An infection by HHV-7 with presence of virus DNA in the spinal fluid was ascertained in a twenty five month old boy with an epileptic syndrome shortly after birth. The child was frequently admitted to hospital due to his basal disease and frequent bacterial infections. In the occasion of one of these hospital admissions for bacterial infections in conjunctiva, spleen and a lung, virological investigations were also carried out disclosing the presence of HHV-7 DNA in a sample of spinal fluid and of serum and the absence of DNAs from the other herpesviruses. The patient's monitoring for HHV-7 showed the presence of HHV-7 DNA in a sample of serum and in various samples of peripheral blood lymphocytes and saliva, but not in the cerebrospinal fluid sample successive to that positive for HHV-7 DNA. Forty seven days before the diagnosis of HHV-7 infection, the patient received a human gamma-globulin therapy which obscured the humoral response mounted against the virus by the host, so, whether the HHV-7 presence in the central nervous system was associated with a primary or a reactivated infection remained uncertain. The absence of detectable HHV-7 serum IgM antibody, however, suggests the HHV-7 DNA finding on the occasion of a virus reactivation rather than a primary infection. The virological data suggest that HHV-7 may have possibly reached the central nervous system in the course of a viremia. The absence of HHV-6 and HHV-7 antibodies, present in the patient's serum at a high level, support the integrity of the blood-brain barrier. A possible pathogenetic role of HHV-7 in the child's disease seems unlikely, since the epileptic syndrome was pre-existing.
在一名出生后不久患有癫痫综合征的25个月大男孩中，确诊感染了HHV - 7，脑脊液中存在病毒DNA。该患儿因基础疾病和频繁的细菌感染而频繁住院。在因结膜、脾脏和肺部细菌感染而住院的一次期间，还进行了病毒学调查，结果显示脑脊液样本和血清中存在HHV - 7 DNA，而其他疱疹病毒的DNA均未检出。对该患者的HHV - 7监测显示，血清样本、外周血淋巴细胞和唾液的各种样本中存在HHV - 7 DNA，但在HHV - 7 DNA呈阳性的脑脊液样本之后的脑脊液样本中未检测到。在诊断HHV - 7感染前47天，该患者接受了人γ -球蛋白治疗，这掩盖了宿主针对该病毒产生的体液反应，因此，中枢神经系统中HHV - 7的存在是与原发性感染还是再激活感染相关仍不确定。然而，未检测到HHV - 7血清IgM抗体，提示在病毒再激活时发现了HHV - 7 DNA，而非原发性感染。病毒学数据表明，HHV - 7可能在病毒血症过程中到达了中枢神经系统。患者血清中高水平存在的HHV - 6和HHV - 7抗体的缺失，支持了血脑屏障的完整性。HHV - 7在该患儿疾病中可能的致病作用似乎不太可能，因为癫痫综合征在之前就已存在。
