Carneiro VCDS, Alves-Leon SV, Sarmento DJDS, Coelho WLDCNP, Moreira ODC, Salvio AL, Ramos CHF, Ramos Filho CHF, Marques CAB, da Costa Gonçalves JP, Leon LAA, de Paula VS. Herpesvirus and neurological manifestations in patients with severe coronavirus disease.
Virol J 2022;
19:101. [PMID:
35676707 PMCID:
PMC9174631 DOI:
10.1186/s12985-022-01828-9]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Certain clinical manifestations of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mimic those associated with human herpesvirus (HHV) infection. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of herpesvirus in patients with COVID-19 and determined if coinfection is associated with poorer outcomes and neurological symptoms.
Methods
We analyzed samples of 53 patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The samples were evaluated for the presence of alphaherpesviruses, betaherpesviruses, and gammaherpesviruses, and the viral loads were quantified using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method.
Results
Among the patients, in 79.2% had detection at least one type of herpesvirus. HHV-6 (47.2%), cytomegalovirus (43.3%), and HHV-7 (39.6%) showed the highest detection rates. Patients with a high severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) load were more likely to show herpes simplex virus 1 detection (p = 0.037). Among patients coinfected with SARS-CoV-2 and HHVs, 26.4% showed central nervous system-associated neurological symptoms and herpetic manifestations. A statistically significant association was observed between neurological changes and HHV-6 detection (p = 0.034).
Conclusions
The findings showed a high prevalence of herpesvirus in patients with COVID-19. Furthermore, even though SARS-CoV-2 and HHV coinfection was not associated with poorer outcomes, the findings demonstrated the association between neurological symptoms and HHV-6 detection.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12985-022-01828-9.
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