From the Co-Chairs of the 5th International Conference on HHV-6 & 7

Abstract

The 5th International Conference on HHV-6&7 was held in Barcelona, Spain, on May 1−3, 2006. It provided a forum for the presentation of original research pertaining to basic and clinical aspects of HHV-6. Experts in the field presented overviews and advances in the studies of other b-herpesviruses including CMV and HHV-7. An important goal of this meeting was to stimulate international collaboration and promote interdisciplinary interactions between basic scientists, epidemiologists, pathologists, neurologists, infectious disease specialists, young investigators, graduate students, commercial laboratories, non-profit foundations and clinical researchers in an effort to foster “bench to bedside” research and improve communications. The meeting highlighted the role of chronic active HHV-6 infections in disease, with special emphasis on HHV-6 in CNS disease, specifically: transplant related encephalitis, acute and subacute encephalitis in AIDS and immunocompetent patients, drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) associated encephalitis, exacerbations of MS, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), epilepsy and the subset of CFS patients with neurological problems. The meeting also explored the role of HHV-7 in febrile seizures and encephalitis. As the role of HHV-6 in disease is an under-represented area of research that has recently gained new importance with the recent resurgent interest in viruses in the central nervous system, the 5th International Conference on HHV-6&7 was an opportune venue to convene an international symposium that focused precisely on the role of these agents in disease. In this supplement, a number of presentations from this meeting were selected as full reports. They highlight important topics related to HHV-6 and showcase a number of young, biomedical investigators and their contributions to the field. They represent basic, laboratory observations and translational, clinical studies on the role of HHV-6 in human disease. We think this will be of interest to the readers of the Journal of Clinical Virology that we hope will serve to inform and stimulate. We appreciate the support of the following organizations: Office of Rare Diseases at the NIH, American Epilepsy Society, National MS Society, Boston Accelerated Cure Project for MS, HHV-6 Foundation, the Nevada CFS Foundation and CFIDS Association of America as well as commercial sponsors Roche, Tevo and Serono.