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American Society of Hematology, Blood, 7(96), p. 2355-2357, 2000

DOI: 10.1182/blood.v96.7.2355.h8002355_2355_2357

American Society of Hematology, Blood, 7(96), p. 2355-2357, 2000

DOI: 10.1182/blood.v96.7.2355

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Nonmalignant disease associated with human herpesvirus 8 reactivation in patients who have undergone autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Abstract Fever, cutaneous rash, and hepatitis—for which an infectious cause was suspected—developed in an Italian patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with degenerate primers for the highly conserved DNA polymerase gene of herpesviruses detected herpesvirus sequences 100% identical to human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) in serial cell-free serum samples, collected immediately before or concomitant with the occurrence of clinical symptoms; no other common infections were documented. The presence of the HHV-8 genome (clade C) was confirmed by PCR with HHV-8–specific primers for orf 26 and orf-K1. HHV-8 viremia was undetectable either before transplantation or when the patient was clinically asymptomatic. Semiquantitative PCR analysis showed variations of the viral load correlating with the clinical status. Anti–HHV-8 antibodies were detected before and after transplantation by an immunofluorescence assay for lytic antigens. Active HHV-8 infection may be associated with nonmalignant illness after PBSC/bone marrow transplantation.