Frequent isolation of human herpesvirus 7 from saliva samples

Human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) was isolated frequently from saliva specimens. The isolation rates were 81% (13/16) in adults, 70% (7/10) in children over 1 year old, and none (0/7) in children less than 1 year old, respectively, indicating that infection of HHV-7 occurs during early infancy and the virus shedding rate after infection is very high. Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) was not isolated from saliva specimens although some studies on isolation of HHV-6 from saliva was reported previously.