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.
Keywords: Herpesvirus; Neurological manifestations; SARS-CoV-2 infection.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2 infection., neurological manifestations, herpesvirus, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, SARS-COV-2 infection, Infection, outcome, virus, Prevalence, outcomes, polymerase chain reaction, Coinfection, Viral load, qPCR, Patient, Manifestations, neurological manifestations, cytomegalovirus, Central nervous system, Neurological symptoms, herpesvirus, change, Quantitative, patients, association, HHV-6, neurological, herpes simplex virus, Chain Reaction, clinical manifestation, Herpes Simplex Virus 1, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, viral loads, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, herpes simplex, herpes, Neurological symptom, polymerase chain, highest, analyzed, evaluated, demonstrated, statistically significant, quantified, diagnosed with COVID-19, patients with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 Patient, severe coronavirus disease, neurological manifestation,