1- Pediatrics Department, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central EPE, Lisbon
2- Neurology Department, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central EPE, Lisbon
3- Clinical Pathology Department, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central EPE, Lisbon
4- Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Microbiology Department, CEDOC, Lisbon
- European Society Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) – Dublin, 6-10 de Maio de 2014 (poster)
Introduction: Febrile seizures (FS) in children are associated with human herpes virus 6 (HHV6) infection (10-20%) An association with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has not been established.
Objective: To investigate the association between HHV6 and CMV and FS in children.
Material and Methods: Observational study of children (3 months to 5 years) without known neurologic disease. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in whole blood and serology were made for HHV6 and CMV. Demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics were studied.
Results: We identified 22/46 (48%) children with HHV6 with median age of 19 months (min 7 - max 30) and 8/46 (17,4%) with CMV infection with 12,5 months (min 7 – max 24). Co-detection HHV6 and CMV was made in 4/46 (8,7%). Family history of FS or epilepsy and complex FS were more frequent in HHV6 infection group (31,8%vs12,5% and 25%vs12,5% respectively) but previous seizures occurred more often in the CMV group (9%vs25%). The seizure had an average duration of 6vs3 minutes in HHV6vsCMV infection. The mean value of leucocytes was 8,7x10^9/Lvs12,4x10^9/L in HHV6vsCMV group.
Conclusion: We found a significant percentage of FS associated with HHV6. The reactivation of CMV is a known fact in septic patients, but not in this kind of mild disease. CMV infection associated with FS has not been previously described. Our findings suggest a possible association in younger patients. The cause-effect relationship remains to be established.
Palavras Chave: Convulsões febris, HHV6, CMV