1/2 In 1985 Dharam Ablashi identified HHV6 as a distinct herpes virus in partnership with National Cancer Institute researcher Zaki Salahuddin who was studying AIDS lymphocytes in culture. The virus could have been EBV, but it rapidly destroyed cells--EBV immortalizes cells.

2/2 Ablashi, unlike Salahuddin, was a herpesvirus expert. He discovered the virus was not a new cell-killing strain of EBV. 'My answer to him was,' Salahuddin told me in 1987, 'Dharam, you are making my life more difficult.' They named it 'Herpes B-cell Lymphotropic Virus.' HBLV