Clinical course of human herpesvirus 6 infection in pediatric living donor liver transplantation

Differentiation between active and latent viral infection is critical for analysis of HHV-6-associated disease. HHV-6 infection has been associated with several clinical manifestations; however, the precise role of HHV-6 in pediatric LDLT remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study included 33 pediatric patients who received LDLT. All of the recipients were monitored for HHV-6 infection using viral isolation and real-time PCR. HHV-6 infection was observed in 14 of 33 (42.4%) recipients, and HHV-6B infection occurred within 2 weeks after LDLT in 10 of 14 (71.4%) recipients. HHV-6 was isolated from 10 of 33 (30.3%) recipients. Multivariate analysis showed that independent predictors of HHV-6B infection were age (OR 0.975; 95% CI 0.943-0.999; P =.041), PELD (OR 1.091; P =.038), and biliary atresia (OR 16.48; P =.035). The occurrence of unexplained fever was significantly higher in recipients with HHV-6B infection (11/14) compared with uninfected recipients (6/19) (P =.013). Additionally, ALT levels at 8 and 9 weeks after transplantation were significantly higher in the recipients with HHV-6B infection. Younger age, high MELD/PELD score, and biliary atresia as an underlying disease were identified as risk factors for viral infection.