Prevalence of, and risk factors for, HSV-2 antibodies in sexually transmitted disease patients, healthy pregnant females, blood donors and medical students in Tanzania and Norway

Nilsen, Arvid; Mwakagile, Davis; Marsden, Howard S.; Langeland, Nina; Matre, R.; Haarr, Lars

doi:10.1017/s095026880500395x

Cited by 15 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…1). Our HiV data for young African women are consistent with other reports, showing a significant incidence increase during the 1990s (26), a female/male ratio of 6 in 15-19-year-oId Zambians (27), and very high prevalence figures in young women (7,28). In these studies behavioural factors were not found fully to explain the gender differences.…”

Section: Til V Infectionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Data on sexual behaviour have been shown to become less accurate with increasing time span into the past (11). and furthermore shown huge variations between study sites (6)(7)(8). Due to varying ability to read and write in the Tanzanian cohorts, face to face interviewing (in kiswahili) was used, whereas self-completion of questionnaires was used by the Norwegians.…”

Section: Behavioural Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the situation in Africa seems rather complex, as behavioural data vary markedly between different regions and from one cohort to another (2)(3)(4)(5)(6). We have been interested particularly in the situation in Tanzania, and reported previously that the increasing prevalence of genital herpes in Africa also affects this country (7). Behavioural data from Tanzanian STI patients are scanty.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Demographic and Behavioural Factors in Tanzanian and Norwegian Patients with Sexually Transmitted Infections

Nilsen¹,

Mwakagile²,

Chalamila³

et al. 2006

Acta Derm Venereol

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To evaluate whether differences in demographic or behavioural factors might explain differences in reported or diagnosed sexually transmitted infections (STI), we have compared data from 1097 Tanzanian and Norwegian STI patients. Most demographic data were similar, whereas some behavioural data differed. Norwegian patients reported significantly higher numbers of sexual partners than Tanzanian. Thirty-three percent of Tanzanian patients tested positive for HIV antibodies, females more often (43%) than males (26%). Approximately one-third and two-thirds of the female HIV-positive Tanzanian STI patients had already seroconverted at the age of 25 and 30 years, respectively. The national differences encountered probably reflect cultural differences, different panoramas of STI and a lower accessibility to optimal health services in Tanzania. Lack of expected statistical associations between some of the data in the Tanzanian STI group might question the validity of the retrospectively collected data in this group, or indicate that questions not included in the questionnaire might be of importance.

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Section: Til V Infectionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Behavioural Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Demographic and Behavioural Factors in Tanzanian and Norwegian Patients with Sexually Transmitted Infections

Nilsen¹,

Mwakagile²,

Chalamila³

et al. 2006

Acta Derm Venereol

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“…Infections with HSV-2 have increased during the last decades (35). In Tanzania, which is the focus of interest in the present study, HSV-2 seroprevalence was observed to increase in a 10-year period among individuals attending a sexually trans-mitted disease clinic, from 43 to 70% (20,32). In contrast, very little is known about the prevalence of HSV-2 infections in childhood and adolescence in this country.…”

mentioning

confidence: 56%

Prevalence of Antibodies against Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2 in Children and Young People in an Urban Region in Tanzania

Kasubi

Nilsen

Marsden³

et al. 2006

J Clin Microbiol

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Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is transmitted by close contact, both sexual and nonsexual, and infections are acquired during childhood and adolescence. Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), however, is thought to be transmitted mainly by sexual contact. Most HSV-2 infections are consequently expected to occur after the onset of sexual activity. Recent reports indicate an increasing prevalence of HSV-2 on the African continent, but most studies have been performed on adult cohorts. In the present study, we collected sera from Tanzanian children and young persons from 1 to 20 years old, with at least 100 individuals in each age group. Antibodies against HSV-1 and HSV-2 were detected by an in-house Western blot method which was shown to perform well in comparison with a commercial Western blot assay. Type-specific antibodies were also analyzed by two noncommercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods based upon the antigenicities of branched synthetic oligopeptides corresponding to epitopes in glycoprotein G of HSV-1 or HSV-2. The prevalence of HSV-1 antibodies increased gradually from 73% for the age group of 1 to 4 years to 92% for the age group of 17 to 20 years. The prevalence of HSV-2 antibodies was unexpectedly high, as 15% of the children were infected by the age of 8 years, with the incidence increasing gradually to 40% in the age group of 17 to 20 years. The reason for this unexpectedly high frequency is not clear but could suggest that nonsexual transmission of HSV-2 is more common than previously thought. There was no statistically significant association between seropositivities for HSV-2 and human immunodeficiency virus.

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“…The lowest prevalences, ranging from 9% to 35%, are observed in the younger age groups and among healthy blood donors, while patients attending STD clinics show the highest prevalences, ranging from 66% to 87% (22,24,25). In general, the HSV-2 prevalence is higher among women than in men and increases with age (16,22,24,25). In this study, we defined the performance of two in-house-produced ELISAs, based on immunosorbent purified sgG-2 and mgG-2, as well as the FO-CUS2 assay and estimated the HSV-2 seroprevalence among blood donors and from an STD population presenting with genital ulcers in Tanzania.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mature Glycoprotein G Presents High Performance in Diagnosing Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Infection in Sera of Different Tanzanian Cohorts

Görander

Mbwana

Lyamuya

et al. 2006

Clin Vaccine Immunol

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Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is a common sexually transmitted infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Glycoprotein G (gG) of HSV-2 elicits a type-specific antibody response and is widely used for serodiagnosis. gG is cleaved into a secreted portion (sgG-2) and a highly O-glycosylated mature portion (mgG-2). The performances of these two native immunosorbent purified antigens were compared in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format with a commercially available assay (FOCUS2) using sera from blood donors (n ‫؍‬ 194) and individuals (n ‫؍‬ 198) with genital ulcer disease (GUD) from Tanzania. Discordant results were resolved by Western blotting. The HSV-2 seroprevalence for blood donors was estimated as 42%, and that for the GUD cohort was estimated as 78%. The prevalence increased significantly with age for both cohorts and was higher among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals than among HIV-negative subjects. In the GUD cohort with a high HSV-2 prevalence, all three assays showed statistically similar performances, with sensitivities between 97% and 99% and specificities in the range of 86% to 91%. In contrast, among blood donors with a lower seroprevalence, the mgG-2-based ELISA presented significantly higher specificity (97%) than the sgG-2 ELISA (89%) and FOCUS2 (74%). Overall, the mgG-2 ELISA gave a high performance, with negative and positive predictive values of 96% for blood donors and a negative predictive value of 95% and a positive predictive value of 97% for the GUD cohort. We conclude that native purified mgG-2 showed the highest accuracy for detection of HSV-2 in patient sera from Tanzania and is therefore suitable for seroprevalence studies as well as in clinical settings.Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infections are common and have spread worldwide, with a reported variation in seroprevalence ranging from less than 1% in children to more than 80% in selected adult populations (13,23,27). After primary infection, HSV-2 establishes latency in sensory ganglia, and after reactivation, HSV-2 can be transmitted by clinical lesions or via asymptomatic shedding (33,35). HSV-2 is sexually transmitted and is the most common cause of genital ulcer disease (GUD) in developing countries (1,8,22). The burden of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is high in sub-Saharan Africa, and a major problem is that HSV-2 infection facilitates transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It has been estimated that the risk of acquiring HIV is doubled for HSV-2-infected individuals (34), and HSV-2-positive patients present higher HIV viral load than HSV-2-negative HIV-infected patients (26). These data emphasize that identification of HSV-2-infected individuals is important not only for control of HSV-2 transmission but also as a strategy for HIV prevention.The definite diagnosis of HSV-2 infection is achieved by virus isolation (VI) or by the PCR technique using samples from clinical lesions. Both of these methods present high specificity, and PCR is the most sensitive. However, t...

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Prevalence of, and risk factors for, HSV-2 antibodies in sexually transmitted disease patients, healthy pregnant females, blood donors and medical students in Tanzania and Norway

Cited by 15 publications

References 49 publications

Demographic and Behavioural Factors in Tanzanian and Norwegian Patients with Sexually Transmitted Infections

Demographic and Behavioural Factors in Tanzanian and Norwegian Patients with Sexually Transmitted Infections

Prevalence of Antibodies against Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2 in Children and Young People in an Urban Region in Tanzania

Mature Glycoprotein G Presents High Performance in Diagnosing Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Infection in Sera of Different Tanzanian Cohorts

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