The family of the late Dr. Caroline Breese Hall travelled to Paris last month to accept the HHV-6 Foundation’s Dharam Ablashi Lifetime Achievement Award.  The honor was given posthumously at a banquet attended by over 160 scientists and physicians, including many of her colleagues in international research. Dr. Hall, one of the first physicians in the USA to begin characterizing the significance and epidemiology of primary human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) infection among infants and young children, passed away on December 10th, 2012.  In recognition of Caroline’s contribution to the field, the HHV-6 Foundation has also established an annual grant award in her honor.  The lifetime achievement award was accepted by her daughters, Amity Breese Hall (pictured) and Kellian Hall Dowd. Also in attendance were her husband, William J. Hall, MD of URMC and her granddaughter, Macey Dowd. The award was presented by Dr. Koichi Yamanishi of Japan’s National Institute of Biomedical Innovation.  READ MORE

Following a previous report of three children who developed symptomatic generalized epilepsy after HHV-6 PALE, a second group from Spain has confirmed the existence of a novel epilepsy syndrome featuring generalized seizures and epileptic encephalopathy after HHV-6-associated PALE (posttransplant limbic encephalitis) in children.  This group observed the development of epileptic spasms in a child four months after HHV-6 PALE.  The newly described epilepsy syndrome features generalized seizures and cognitive regression after HHV-6 PALE.  READ MORE

A laboratory at the University of Wurzburg has published evidence that Chlamydia trachomatis induces the activation of ciHHV-6.  The group, led by Dr. Bhupesh Prusty, shows that ciHHV-6 cell lines infected with C. trachomatis undergo increased latent HHV-6 DNA replication, leading to the formation of both linear and circular forms of extra-chromosomal HHV-6 DNA. However, this increase in replication is interestingly not sufficient to produce infectious viral particles.  READ MORE