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HERPESVIRUS AND NEUROLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH SEVERE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE
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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.
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