Seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 in human immunodeficiency virus 1-positive and human immunodeficiency virus 1-negative populations in Japan

Abstract

To determine the seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) among human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1)-positive (HIV-1+) and HIV-1-negative (HIV-1-) populations in Japan, 276 HIV-1+ patients and 1,000 HIV-1- blood donors were enrolled in this study. Antibodies against HHV8 latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) were examined through indirect immunofluorescent assay by using a B-cell line that was infected latently with HHV8 (body cavity-based lymphoma 1). An HHV8- and Epstein-Barr virus-negative B-cell line (Ramos) was used as a control. Thirty-two seropositive cases against LANA (anti-LANA+) were identified among the 276 HIV-1+ patients who were studied. Five cases were foreigners living in Japan. The risk factor of all 27 Japanese cases was unprotected sexual intercourse, and the great majority of these cases (23 in 27; 85%) reported homosexual/bisexual behavior. Anti-LANA+ status correlated with the presence of sexually transmitted diseases, such as amoeba and HBV infection, further suggesting male homosexual behavior as the main route of HHV8 transmission in Japan. Only two LANA+ cases were identified among 1,000 HIV- blood donors in Japan; thus, seroprevalence of HHV8 identified by LANA was estimated to be 0.2% among HIV-1- populations in this country.

Prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus in Uygur and Han populations from the Urumqi and Kashgar regions of Xinjiang, China

“…In Africa, where there is a high incidence of endemic KS and an HIV epidemic in the region, KSHV seroprevalence is found to be as high as 50% in a number of African countries (Dedicoat et al, 2003;). In contrast, data from Asian countries suggest that KSHV seroprevalence is generally low (Ablashi et al, 2002;Fujii et al, 1999). This is consistent with the much lower incidence of KS in the region.…”

Rapid and simultaneous detection of 6 types of human herpes virus (herpes simplex virus, varicella-zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, human herpes virus 6A/B, and human herpes virus 7) by multiplex PCR assay

“…In order to prevent the formation of an extra band signal due to a nonspecific reaction or the reduction in detection sensitivity due to a primer dimer, we did not increase the number of primer sets more than necessary. For these reasons, we chose not to include primers directed against HHV-8 due to its low rate of infection in humans (6), and designed a primer that detected both HSV-1 and HSV-2, because the same antiviral drugs are used to treat infections with both PCR was approximately 20 DNA copies of each virus per reaction (Fig. 3).…”

Prevalence of antibodies to human herpesvirus-8 in populations with and without risk for infection in São Paulo State

“…In MSM who are HIV negative and asymptomatic, infection rates have ranged from 16.8 to 22.1% (1,3,13). An epidemiological relationship between male homosexual activities and HHV-8 infection has been demonstrated in studies undertaken in different countries (1)(2)(3)8,9,13).…”

“…However, there is no single route of transmission explaining how the virus can infect such different population groups. In the United States, northern Europe, and Japan studies have indicated that the seroprevalence of this virus is low in the general population (8)(9)(10). However, in Mediterranean countries there are areas where relatively high prevalence rates of classic KS and HHV-8 infection have been observed (11).…”