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Classification of HHV-6A and HHV-6B as distinct viruses

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Abstract

Shortly after the discovery of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), two distinct variants, HHV-6A and HHV-6B, were identified. In 2012, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) classified HHV-6A and HHV-6B as separate viruses. This review outlines several of the documented epidemiological, biological, and immunological distinctions between HHV-6A and HHV-6B, which support the ICTV classification. The utilization of virus-specific clinical and laboratory assays for distinguishing HHV-6A and HHV-6B is now required for further classification. For clarity in biological and clinical distinctions between HHV-6A and HHV-6B, scientists and physicians are herein urged, where possible, to differentiate carefully between HHV-6A and HHV-6B in all future publications.

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Kristin Loomis, the President and Executive Director of the HHV-6 Foundation, for supporting and initiating the original document to ICTV, which led to the official recognition of Human herpesvirus 6A and Human herpesvirus 6B as two distinct human betaherpesviruses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HHV-6 Foundation, Santa Barbara, USA

    Dharam Ablashi & Joshua C. Pritchett

  2. Groupe Hospitalier Pitie-Salpetriere, UPMC Paris 06, Paris, France

    Henri Agut

  3. Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain

    Roberto Alvarez-Lafuente

  4. Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK

    Duncan A. Clark

  5. University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, USA

    Stephen Dewhurst

  6. University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Dario DiLuca

  7. Laval University, Quebec City, Canada

    Louis Flamand

  8. Institute for Molecular Virology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Niza Frenkel

  9. Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA

    Robert Gallo

  10. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, UK

    Ursula A. Gompels

  11. Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Per Höllsberg

  12. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke/NIH, Bethesda, USA

    Steven Jacobson

  13. Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Mario Luppi

  14. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH, Bethesda, USA

    Paolo Lusso

  15. OSR Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

    Mauro Malnati

  16. University of South Florida, Tampa, USA

    Peter Medveczky

  17. Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

    Yasuko Mori

  18. Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, USA

    Philip E. Pellett

  19. Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan

    Tetsushi Yoshikawa

  20. The Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Koichi Yamanishi

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  1. Dharam Ablashi
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  2. Henri Agut
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  21. Tetsushi Yoshikawa
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Correspondence to Dharam Ablashi.

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Ablashi, D., Agut, H., Alvarez-Lafuente, R. et al. Classification of HHV-6A and HHV-6B as distinct viruses. Arch Virol 159, 863–870 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-013-1902-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-013-1902-5

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