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Herpesvirus and neurological manifestations in patients with severe coronavirus disease

2022; BioMed Central; Volume: 19; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1186/s12985-022-01828-9

1743-422X

Vanessa Cristine de Souza Carneiro, Soniza Vieira Alves‐Leon, Dmitry José de Santana Sarmento, Wagner Luís da Costa Nunes Pimentel Coelho, Otacílio C. Moreira, Andreza Lemos Salvio, Carlos Henrique Ferreira Ramos, Carlos Henrique Ferreira Ramos Filho, Carla Augusta Barreto Marques, João Paulo da Costa Gonçalves, Luciane Almeida Amado Leon, Vanessa Salete de Paula,

COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies

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.