Tsuneo Morishima's research while affiliated with Infectious Diseases Society Of America and other places
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Publications (264)
Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is a severe systemic disease associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity. Recent studies suggest that the clonal expansion of EBV-infected T or natural killer cells plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of chronic active EBV infection. However, it is not clear whether chronic active EBV...
Serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) concentration is elevated in patients with early osteoarthritis and early rheumatoid arthritis, and may be a biomarker of cartilage turnover. We investigated whether serum COMP concentration could be a clinically significant marker of arthritis and/or growth impairment in juvenile idiopathic arthriti...
Infectious mononucleosis owing to primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection sometimes causes hepatitis, which is usually self-limiting with mildly elevated transaminases, but can rarely develop into severe hepatitis with jaundice.
To clarify the pathogenesis of severe hepatitis by primary EBV infection.
We experienced four cases of severe hepatiti...
The purpose of the present paper was to study the use of antipyretics in children with delirium associated with fever in order to clarify their possible adverse effects.
The use of antipyretics was investigated in 26 children with delirious behavior associated with fever. Temporal relation between delirious behavior and the use of antipyretics was...
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is known to be a causative agent of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). To investigate association of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of EBV-associated HLH, the serum EBV loads, and serum concentrations of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNF-R1), soluble Fas ligand, and cytochrome c were examined in 15 patien...
CD40 ligand (CD40L) is mainly expressed on activated platelets and CD4+T cells, and it can be cleaved from the cell surface, releasing a soluble CD40L (sCD40L). Most sCD40L is derived from activated platelets. A previous paper revealed that the platelet number of patients with influenza virus-associated encephalopathy (IE) was correlated with the o...
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is usually maintained in an asymptomatic and latent form by the host immune system, and primarily by EBV-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs). However, EBV has been linked to several refractory diseases such as EBV-associated hemophagocytic syndrome(EBV-AHS) and chronic active EBV infection (CAEBV). In these ectopic diseases,...
Herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSVE) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, even with appropriate antiviral therapy. In the present investigation, the first to assess efficacy of corticosteroid treatment with aciclovir therapy in HSVE, multiple logistic regression analysis was performed of predictors of outcome in adult patient...
Human chromosome 15q11-q13 is a critical region for Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and Angelman syndrome (AS) and most of the genes are under the condition of imprinting mechanism. PWS results from the loss of expression of paternally expressed genes and AS of maternally expressed genes. In this study molecular studies about a patient with congenital...
Natural killer (NK) lymphoma in Asia is frequently associated with latent Epstein-Barr (EBV) infection. Unlike the adult cases, EBV-associated NK/T cell lymphomas in children are often preceded by various EBV-related disorders, including chronic active EBV infection (CAEBV), hypersensitivity to mosquito bites (HMB), virus-associated haemophagocytic...
Human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6) is a ubiquitous virus, but one that can induce various neurological diseases. Recently, several seizures have been reported as new HHV-6-associated diseases based on virological analysis. Neonates who are perinatally infected with HHV-6 can develop afebrile seizures, which are considered to be exanthem subitum (ES) in t...
Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is common, and its morbidity rate is high. Ganciclovir (GCV) treatment has been used for congenital CMV infection, but there are few reports on viral loads associated with GCV therapy.
A real-time PCR assay was used to monitor viral load in 6 cases of symptomatic CMV infection that received GCV therapy. In...
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a novel nucleic acid amplification method that amplifies DNA with high specificity, efficiency, and speed under isothermal conditions. To evaluate the usefulness of LAMP for diagnosing central nervous system infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV), we compared the LAMP method with real-time PCR, us...
The clinical characteristics and electroencephalogram (EEG) findings in delirious behavior in children with influenza were studied in order to differentiate it from influenza-associated encephalitis/encephalopathy. Fifteen consecutive children with delirious behavior associated with influenza were investigated. Their clinical courses were investiga...
We investigated the usefulness of helical computed tomography(CT)in the morphological diagnosis of pulmonary vein stenosis, particularly that in infants and small children. In total, 20 helical CT examinations were performed in 10 post-operative cases of Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage(TAPVD), 3 cases of single right ventricle, and 1 case...
It is well accepted that bacterial and virus infections elevate the levels of cytokines in serum and cerebrospinal fluids. Such high levels of cytokines might alter the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and/or blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB), subsequently affecting brain penetration of drugs. However, few reports have addressed t...
Influenza-associated encephalopathy is reported to be frequent in Japan and East Asia. No evaluating markers except interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and no likely pathological mechanism for the disease have yet been elucidated.
In this study, influenza-associated encephalopathy was defined by clinical symptoms, and the use o...
Infections of T cells and natural killer (NK) cells play a central role in the pathogenesis of chronic active Epstein-Barr
virus (CAEBV) infection. To characterize the virologic and cytokine profiles of T cell-type and NK cell-type infection, 39
patients with CAEBV infection were analyzed. Patients with T cell-type infection had higher titers of im...
Infantile hepatitis is occasionally seen in apparently healthy children. In most cases, the etiology of the infection is uncertain. However, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6), human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7), human parvovirus B19, and TT virus (TTV) are considered to be associated with hepatitis in children. T...
Dyskeratosis congenita (DKC) is an inherited disease characterized by the triad of mucosal leukoplakia, abnormal skin pigmentation and nail dystrophy, and it usually appears between the ages of 5 and 10 yr. Reports show that 19.5% of DKC patients have short stature (1). A major complication of DKC is progressive development of pancytopenia and ther...
Infection with influenza viruses produces a spectrum of clinical responses, ranging from upper respiratory illness to central nervous system (CNS) involvement. Recently, the number of reports of influenza-associated encephalopathy in Japan has increased. During the winters of 1997-1998 and 1998-1999, when epidemics of type A influenza (H3N2) occurr...
We report a case of hemiconvulsion-hemiplegia (HH) syndrome. An 18-month-old female infant had a hemiconvulsion followed by left hemiplegia. Magnetic resonance imaging immediately after the onset of hemiplegia showed high intensity in the right hemisphere in diffusion-weighted images (DWI), while T1- and T2-weighted images were normal. Single photo...
We assessed the potential for estimating the effects of antiviral therapy on the clearance of intrathecal herpes simplex virus (HSV) antigens as evaluated by the chemiluminescence assay (CL) and on that of intrathecal HSV-DNA as evaluated by the nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in serial patients with herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSVE)....
To clarify the pathogenesis of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, EBV-specific CD8+ T cells were enumerated, by use of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*2402-restricted tetramers, in 8 patients with chronic
active EBV infection, 10 patients with infectious mononucleosis, and 16 EBV-seropositive healthy control subjects. In most
of the...
The correlation between the glutamate-glutamine cycle and nitric oxide (NO) production in the central nervous system (CNS) of a new type of influenza-associated encephalopathy in children is discussed. When measurements of several amino acids and NOx (nitrite/nitrate) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) using HPLC-fluorescence and -UV methods,...
Neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is a severe disease with high mortality and morbidity. To investigate the pathogenesis
of neonatal HSV infection, we examined inflammatory responses and markers of apoptosis in patients with neonatal HSV infection.
Concentrations of inflammatory cytokines and markers of apoptosis were significantly high...
We addressed the incidence of influenza-associated acute encephalopathy, which is distinct from Reye syndrome, in children in Japan. Eighty-nine children with a mean age of 3.8 years were reported to have developed this disease during eight influenza seasons (December 1994-April 2002) in Hokkaido, Japan. None of them had received aspirin. Most of t...
Influenza virus-associated encephalopathy (IE) is suggested to be a proinflammatory cytokine-related disease.
We measured the concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), TNF-alpha, soluble TNF receptor 1 (sTNFR1), IL-10, interferon-gamma, IL-2, IL-4, and soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin) in serum and CSF during the acute stage in 30 children with IE, 20...
We performed a real-time PCR assay to detect herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA, and compared it prospectively with a nested PCR assay in 164 clinical samples (109 cerebrospinal fluid and 55 sera) from patients suspected of having neonatal HSV infection or HSV encephalitis. In 25 of 164 samples, HSV DNA was detected by the nested PCR assay. All samples...
Recently, the number of reports of encephalopathy associated with influenza has increased in Japan. The abrupt onset of seizure and coma after development of high-grade fever is a prominent indicator of CNS involvement. Approximately 600 patients have been reported during 1999-2002. 78% of them are younger than 6 yr old, and the mortality was 30% i...
Neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is a severe disease with high mortality and morbidity. Recurrence of skin vesicles is common.
To determine the features of relapse and identify the factors related to relapse.
Thirty two surviving patients with neonatal herpes virus infections were enrolled. All patients received acyclovir treatment. Cl...
Influenza-associated encephalopathy, a severe neurologic complication of influenza, is being reported more frequently in Japan.
We investigated the transcription of cytokine genes in peripheral blood leukocytes and compared patients with influenza and
with encephalopathy or febrile convulsions and patients with influenza but without neurologic comp...
Flow cytometric analysis of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells specific to human cytomegalovirus (CMV) was undertaken in seven patients with congenital CMV infection, six healthy infants who had acquired infection, and six CMV-seropositive adults. Intracellular cytokine assays showed that 0.03-2.23% of CD4(+) T cells in the healthy infants and adults produc...
In December 2000, a female infant hospitalized in our Neonatal Care Centre was infected with varicella by her mother. Although prophylactic intravenous acyclovir was administered at a dose of 15 mg/kg daily, she later developed varicella during her hospital stay. We therefore initiated control procedures to prevent further hospital-acquired infecti...
The roles of IgA and IgG antibodies (Abs) against hemagglutinin (HA) in the prevention of lethal influenza pneumonia in vaccinated mice were examined in terms of distribution and concentration of the Abs in the mucus or the serous fluid in different sites of the respiratory tract (RT), mucosa of the nose, trachea, bronchi and bronchioli and the alv...
Preterm infants are at greater risk of symptomatic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection than term infants. Breast milk is the main source of perinatal CMV infections. This study evaluated the kinetics of CMV load in breast milk and the rate of postnatal CMV transmission via breast milk from mothers to their preterm infants.
This was a prospective study...
It has become evident that the number of patients with a new type of influenza-associated encephalopathy is increasing in Japan. Nitric oxide (NO), a simple free radical gas, elicits a wide range of physiological and pathophysiological effects. We measured the nitrite/nitrate (NO x ) levels in cerebral spinal fluid obtained from patients with influ...
Chronic active EBV infections (CAEBV) are often causative of malignant lymphoproliferative disorders, such as natural killer (NK) cell-lineage granular lymphocyte proliferative disorders (NK-GLPD), which are refractory to several conventional chemotherapies and usually show a poor prognosis. To explore the possibility of preventive treatment for Ep...
Influenza-associated encephalopathy is a severe complication of influenza virus infection, but its pathogenesis is unknown. It was recently suggested that the neurologic complications of influenza, including encephalopathy, are associated with human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7). AIM To confirm or refute the association betw...
Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection (CAEBV) is a high-mortality and high-morbidity disease. To clarify the prognostic
factors, a national survey was performed in Japan, and data for 82 patients who met the criteria for CAEBV were analyzed.
Of these 82 patients, 47 were alive and 35 had already died. Multivariate analysis revealed that throm...
This study determined the concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), soluble TNF receptor 1 (sTNFR1) and soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum from 15 children with influenza virus-associated encephalopathy to determine the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis. Cytokines and s...
Investigations into human cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific cellular immunity are important to better understand and manage CMV infections. CMV phosphoprotein pp65 is thought to be a major antigen for CMV-specific cellular immunity. We newly synthesized protein pp65 with a baculovirus expression system and purified it via metal affinity chromatography...
Ten adult patients with symmetrical calcifications in the bilateral basal ganglia (diagnosed as physiological calcifications) were analyzed for lymphocyte subsets and cytokines. Increased number of natural killer (NK) cells were identified in the peripheral blood of seven patients by lymphocyte subset analysis. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha was detec...
During the winter of 1998–1999, there was an outbreak of encephalitis/encephalopathy in Japan that appeared to be associated
with influenza. We conducted a national survey of the prevalence and clinical features of disease and the associated outcomes
and prognostic factors related to this outbreak. A total of 202 cases were analyzed, of which 148 w...
Neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is a severe disease with high mortality and morbidity in spite of the development of effective anti-viral therapies. The viral load in neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection was measured retrospectively in 37 patients. HSV DNA copy numbers in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were quantified us...
The viral load in peripheral blood from patients with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated hemophagocytic syndrome was measured by real-time quantitative PCR and compared with that in infectious mononucleosis. Patients with EBV-associated hemophagocytic syndrome generally had larger viral burdens, although it was difficult to differentiate EBV-assoc...
The DNA of herpesviruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), human herpesvirus-6 (HHV6), and human herpesvirus-7 (HHV7) has been detected in the serum of patients with primary infection or with immunosuppression. However, it is unknown how frequently herpesvirus DNA can be detected in the serum of immunocompetent children, or w...
Laboratory diagnosis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection
is improving with the development of new
technologies. Quantification of the virus by real-time
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and evaluation of
EBV-specific T cells, especially by tetrameric human
leukocyte antigens, are noteworthy candidates for
monitoring procedures in clinical laborato...
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related lymphoproliferative disorder (LPD) is a serious complication of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). To clarify the frequency, natural course and risk factors for LPD, we prospectively monitored 38 allogeneic (allo)-HSCT patients, focusing on the use of anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG). We used a recently d...
Background: We previously reported an epidemiological aspect of influenza-associated encephalitis/encephalopathy in Japan. Patients: Case 1 is a 7-year-old boy who survived, and case 2 is a 5-year-old boy who died with a fulminant course. Results: Both patients showed remarkably high levels of IL-6 in cerebrospinal fluid and a postmortem examinatio...
Although hepatitis is a common feature of primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, severe liver injury is rare and its pathogenesis is unclear. A previously healthy girl developed severe hepatitis with prolonged jaundice. Serologic examination showed that she had primary infection with EBV. An extremely high Epstein-Barr viral load was observed...
Thirty patients with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV) infection were analyzed. The study group included 18 male and 12 female patients, ranging in age from 5 to 31 years with a mean age of 14.2 years. Not all patients had high titers of EBV-specific antibodies, but all patients had high viral loads in their peripheral blood (more than 10(2...
Clinical evidence of a relationship between severe chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and clonal expansion of EBV-infected T or NK cells has been accumulated. In order to clarify pathogenesis of EBV-infected cell proliferation in patients with severe chronic active EBV infection, cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses of two patients...
Severe chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection (SCAEBV) is an intractable disease with a poor prognosis, and a definitive treatment has not been established. We administered vidarabine to patients with natural killer (NK) cell-type SCAEBV and evaluated clinical and virologic effects.
Four patients with SCAEBV were enrolled in this study. These...
To investigate the nature of viremia during the acute phase of varicella, we studied the viral load in nine otherwise healthy children with varicella. Plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained, then PBMC were divided into CD4+T, CD8+T, and B lymphocytes and monocyte/macrophage fractions. The viral DNA in each component was...
Cord blood transplantation, which has lower risk of graft-versus-host disease than bone marrow transplantation, might have higher risk of infections. A system to quantify four herpesviruses, CMV, human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6), EBV, varicella-zoster virus using the real-time PCR assay was established and applied for prospective viral load monitoring in...
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)—associated lymphoproliferative disorder (LPD) is a serious complication after allogeneic bone marrow
transplantation (BMT). Dynamics of EBV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), which are important in controlling EBV during
the LPD, have not been fully elucidated. A patient with Wiskot-Aldrich's syndrome was diagnosed as...
Using a real-time quantitative PCR assay, we identified two patients with EBV-related lymphoproliferative disorders at a very early stage. Both had received an unmanipulated bone marrow transplant with anti-thymocyte globulin for conditioning. To estimate virus-specific immunity, the frequencies of EBV-specific CD8+ T cells were measured using an e...
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The X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP) is an inherited immunodeficiency characterized by an abnormal responses to infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), resulting in fatal infectious mononucleosis, hypogammaglobulinemia, virus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome, and malignant lymphoma. Mutations in the gene coding for a T cell-specific SL...
The pathogenesis of varicella and zoster and the effects of antiviral treatment were investigated using real-time PCR for varicella-zoster virus (VZV) DNA in skin lesions and peripheral blood. A higher occurrence of viremic VZV DNA was observed in varicella than in zoster. Acyclovir treatment resulted in marked suppression of viremia in varicella.
Primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in childhood is usually asymptomatic, but sometimes causes infectious mononucleosis (IM). Very occasionally, IM develops into a life-threatening EBV-associated hemophagocytic syndrome (EBV-AHS). We studied the importance and usefulness of measuring cell-free viral DNA in the serum of patients with these pr...
The pathogenesis of varicella and zoster and the effects of antiviral treatment were investigated using real-time PCR for varicella-zoster virus (VZV) DNA in skin lesions and peripheral blood. A higher occurrence of viremic VZV DNA was observed in varicella than in zoster. Acyclovir treatment resulted in marked suppression of viremia in varicella.
A novel real-time PCR assay system was developed to quantify the cytomegalovirus (CMV) genome load. The real-time PCR assay could detect from 6 to over 10(6) copies of CMV-DNA with a wide linear range. The virus load of immunocompromised patients with symptomatic CMV infections was quantified and compared to that of asymptomatic ones. In symptomati...
Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) in children sometimes exacerbates after successful treatment; yet the frequency, etiology,
and clinical features of exacerbation remain unclear. We report data for 27 children with HSE confirmed by polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) analysis; all were successfully treated with acyclovir, but 7 (26%) had a relapse of e...
As molecular biology has developed, several new diagnostic techniques have found application in the clinical setting. The use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to study the molecular biology of microbial organisms has led to unparalleled advances, largely due to the rapidity with which results can be obtained. The sensitivity and specifi...
The origin of the increased numbers of CD8+ atypical lymphocytes, expressing activated markers such as HLA-DR or CD45RO, in the peripheral blood of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) has been debated. Using a recently developed assay to detect intracellular accumulation of IFN-gamma in EBV-reactive T cells by FACS, we have demonstrated tha...
We have developed an efficient and rapid method for detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific CD8(+) T-cell frequencies both in freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and in vitro established cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) lines. Responder cells are thereby stimulated with an autologous lymphoblastoid cell line for 5 hours a...
A prospective study was undertaken on the diagnosis of herpes simplex encephalitis (HSVE) by comparing chemiluminescence assay (CL) and two different sensitive polymerase chain reactions (PCRs).
The materials comprised 53 serial CSF samples from 31 patients with acute encephalitis with suspected HSVE. Each CSF was distributed to three independent l...
Several infectious childhood diseases can be prevented by vaccination. A survey of hospital admissions for such diseases was conducted in Aichi Prefecture over 5 years beginning in 1994. A questionnaire was sent annually to hospitals with 100 or more beds to obtain information on pediatric patients requiring hospitalization for 10 vaccine preventab...
TT virus (TTV) is a newly discovered virus from a patient with post-transfusion hepatitis. We investigated the frequency
and pathogenesis of TTV infection in children. A semi-nested PCR assay was used to amplify TTV-DNA in serum samples from 254
ambulatory children without liver disease, 20 with hepatitis of unknown etiology, and 18 transfusion rec...
We have developed an efficient and rapid method for detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific CD8+ T-cell frequencies both in freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and in vitro established cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) lines. Responder cells are thereby stimulated with an autologous lymphoblastoid cell line for 5 hours and...
The clinical and epidemiologic features of Kawasaki disease (KD) suggest an infectious etiology, but the agent(s) remains unknown. We aimed to isolate the causative bacterial gene from peripheral blood leukocytes of patients with acute KD.
Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used to amplify the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA)....
Eleven children with acute encephalopathy associated with an influenza virus infection were treated during the 1997–1998 influenza season. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was used to detect the viral genome in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. The results were compared with those of control influ...
The clinical evidence of a relationship between severe hypersensitivity to mosquito bite (HMB) and clonal expansion of EBV-infected NK cells has been accumulated. In order to clarify the mechanism of EBV-induced NK cell proliferation and its relationship with high incidence of leukaemias or lymphomas in HMB patients, we studied clonally expanded NK...
A woman with Hailey-Hailey disease, suffering from carcinoma of the vulva, was examined by histology and for the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ hybridization. Our diagnosis by histological examination revealed the vulval carcinoma to be a squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), adjacent to lesions o...
The prevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgG antibody was determined in 573 pregnant women in the first trimester. The overall prevalence of CMV IgG antibody was 77.5%. The rate of seropositivity was 67.7% in women < 25 yr, and increased with age to 85.7% in women 40 yr. These results imply that young women in Japan are at increased risk for primary...
To measure the virus load in patients with symptomatic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections, we used a real-time PCR assay to quantify the amount of EBV DNA in blood. The real-time PCR assay could detect from 2 to over 10(7) copies of EBV DNA with a wide linear range. We estimated the virus load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) from pat...
The clinical features of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in countries with a higher percentage of maternal seropositivity for CMV has rarely been reported. We conducted a national survey for the first time in Japan to investigate the prevalence of congenital CMV infection.
Questionnaires were sent in 1994 to pediatricians and obstetricia...
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines currently are not used in Japan, but interest in preventing H. influenzae disease by immunization has grown. We performed a retrospective survey for bacterial meningitis in 6 prefectures of Japan. Questionnaires requested the age, sex, clinical outcome and identity of the etiologic organism, if known, of...
We report three Japanese children with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and neurologic findings that included symmetric calcifications in the bilateral basal ganglia. This finding, common in pediatric acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), suggests that EBV could be responsible for calcification in the basal ganglia seen in chi...
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) and several malignancies may develop in severely immunocompromised hosts, such as HIV infected individuals and in patients with T cell depleted or major histocompatibility complex (MHC) mismatched bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Loss of cellular immunity against EBV is resp...
To investigate the clinical features in PCR-proved herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) in children, excluding neonates.
We studied the clinical manifestations and laboratory findings of 24 children in whom the diagnosis of herpes infection was confirmed by the PCR assay and compared them with those of 38 children with central nervous system infection...
Mother-to-infant transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was analyzed by sequencing of viral RNA and semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction following ultracentrifugation of maternal sera. In two mother-infant pairs, the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) and carboxyl terminus of envelope 1 (E1) were sequenced. Both viral sequences in the infants wer...
The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in the etiology of many lymphoid and other malignancies. Understanding of the immune control of the virus appears to be very important to establish strategy to overcome those disease. Recent advance of T cell biology and the culture technic have made it possible to apply adoptive immune transfer of E...