The Eruptive Fevers at Sixes and Sevens

Robert J Petrella

doi:10.2147/OAEM.S448246

The Eruptive Fevers at Sixes and Sevens

Open Access Emerg Med. 2024 Apr 24:16:101-105. doi: 10.2147/OAEM.S448246. eCollection 2024.

Author

Robert J Petrella^{1

2

3

4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
² Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Emergency Departments, CharterCARE Health Partners, Providence and North Providence, RI, USA.
⁴ Emergency Department, Boston VA Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Emergency Departments, Steward Health Care Systems, Boston and Methuen, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Sixth Disease (roseola infantum) and its primary causative agent, HHV-6, share names that numerically concur. This article examines and answers the question of whether that correspondence is by design or coincidental by briefly reviewing the history and nomenclature of the HHV viruses and the classic febrile rashes of childhood while highlighting some clinical and microbiologic features of HHV-6 infection.

Keywords: HHV-6; HHV-7; Kawasaki disease; emergency medicine; historical coincidence; human herpesviruses; nomenclature; roseola infantum; sixth disease; viral taxonomy.