Background: Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection occurs worldwide and can be reactivated from latency during periods of immunosuppression, especially after organ transplantation. No previous study has evaluated the influence of dialysis type on HHV-6 infection. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of HHV-6 antibodies in hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.
Methods: We studied 36 PD patients, 35 HD patients, and 20 healthy subjects, all with no history of organ transplantation. After systematic inquiries and a physical examination, blood was drawn for determination of biochemical parameters, cytomegalovirus immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG), hepatitis B surface antigen, and the hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus antibodies. Titers of HHV-6 IgM and IgG antibodies were determined by ELISA.
Results: Titers for HHV-6 IgM antibody were positive in 9 HD patients (25.7%), 8 PD patients (22.2%), and 2 control subjects (10.0%, p > 0.05). More HD patients (20.0%) than PD patients (5.6%, p = 0.07) or control subjects (0.0%, p = 0.03) were positive for HHV-6 IgG antibody. In HD patients, HHV-6 IgG seropositivity and duration of dialysis were positively correlated (R = 0.33, p = 0.05).
Conclusions: Infection with HHV-6 is not rare in PD and HD patients. In addition, HHV-6 IgG seropositivity was significantly higher in HD patients than in control subjects and approached significance when compared with seropositivity in PD patients. Moreover, in HD patients, HHV-6 IgG seropositivity correlated with duration on HD. These preliminary findings provide insight into the pre-transplantation period for patients and may aid our understanding of how to best protect patients against HHV-6 after transplantation.