Review Part 2: Human Herpesvirus-6 in Central Nervous System Diseases

Abstract

Human herpesvirus‐6 (HHV‐6) has been implicated in the development of a diverse array of neurologic conditions, including seizures, encephalitis, mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), and multiple sclerosis (MS) [Dewhurst et al., 1997; Dewhurst, 2004; Birnbaum et al., 2005; Fotheringham and Jacobson, 2005; Isaacson et al., 2005; Fotheringham et al., 2007a,b]. HHV‐6 infection is ubiquitous in the general population. Numerous studies have demonstrated HHV‐6 DNA sequences in non‐pathological brain tissues obtained from autopsies or by surgeries [Challoner et al., 1995; Cermelli and Jacobson, 2000; Donati et al., 2003; Opsahl and Kennedy, 2005], suggesting that it can be a commensal virus of the brain. Thus, attributing a pathological role to the virus in diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) can be challenging.