History
During 1986, Dharam Ablashi, Syed Zaki Salahuddin, and Robert Gallo cultivated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with AIDS and lymphoproliferative illnesses. When they did, they found short-lived, large, refractile cells that frequently contained intranuclear and/or intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies. Electron microscopy revealed a novel virus that they named human B-lymphotrophic virus (HBLV).
Shortly after its discovery, Ablashi et al. described five cell lines that can be infected by the newly discovered HBLV. They published that HSB-2, a particular T-cell line, was highly susceptible to infection. This pioneering research concluded by suggesting that the virus name be changed from HBLV to HHV-6, in accord with the published provisional classification of herpes viruses.
Years later, HHV-6 was divided into subtypes. Early research resulted in the description of two very similar, yet unique forms: variants HHV-6A and HHV-6B. This distinction first appeared in the literature during 1992. The separation was warranted because of their unique restriction endonuclease cleavage patterns, reactivities to monoclonal antibodies, and growth patterns in various cell lines.
HHV-6A includes several adult-derived strains and its disease spectrum is not well defined, although it is thought by some to be more neurovirulent. HHV-6B is commonly detected in children with roseola infantum, as it is the etiologic agent for this condition. Within these two viruses is a sequence homology of 95%.
In 2012, HHV-6A and HHV-6B were classified as distinct species.
Read more about this topic: Human Herpesvirus 6
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)