Virus Weaves Itself into the DNA Transferred from Parents to
Babies Effects of unique form of congenital infection unknown
September 03, 2008 Parents expect to pass on their eye or hair
color, their knobby knees or their big feet to their children
through their genes. But they don’t expect to pass on viruses
through those same genes. New research from the University of
Rochester Medical Center shows that some parents pass on the
human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) to their children because it is
integrated into their chromosomes. This is the first time a
virus has been shown to become part of the human DNA and then
get passed to subsequent generations. This unique mode of
congenital infection may be occurring in as many as 1 of every
116 newborns, and the long-term consequences for a child’s
development and immune system are unknown. “At this point, we
know very little about the implications of this type of
infection, but the section of the chromosome into which the
virus appears to integrate is important to the mai