Seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in selected German populations?relevance for the incidence of genital herpes

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of antibodies to herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2) in selected German populations, such as blood donors, hospital patients, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive individuals. Serum samples collected between 1996 and 1998 were tested by enzyme immunoassays using monoclonal antibody-selected native gG1 and gG2 as antigens and an immunoblot using type-specific recombinant glycoproteins. Equivocal results were resolved by an "in-house" Western blot assay. The prevalence of HSV-1 antibodies increased steadily with age and reached high levels of >/=88% among subjects 40 years of age or older. In the sample of patients and blood donors, the HSV-2 seroprevalence was 12.8% (95% CI = 11.9-13.8%). About 81% of the HSV-2 seropositive subjects were coinfected with HSV-1. When adjusted for age, there was no difference in the HSV-2 seroprevalence between hospital patients and blood donors. The HSV-2 seroprevalence was significantly higher among women (15%) than among men (10.5%), yielding a female : male odds ratio of 1.5 for hospital patients and of 1.67 for blood donors. Among the HIV-infected population, 91.1% were seropositive for HSV-1 and 47.9% for HSV-2. HIV-infected women have a significantly higher risk of HSV-2 infection than men (odds ratio [OR] = 3.22; 95% confidence ratio [CI] 1.99-5.20). In conclusion, although the rate of infections with HSV-2 is relatively low in the German population, attention should be given to the further development in adolescents, especially in view of a possible decrease of HSV-1 seroprevalence in childhood.

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

“…Among all seven sera that were The present results show that HSV-1 infections occur early in life in Tanzania, as 74% of the individuals aged 2 to 4 years old had specific antibodies, and Ͼ80% of children in the age group of 5 to 8 years had specific antibodies. These figures are nearly two times higher than those obtained from similar studies in Sweden (39) and Germany (43) but are rather close to the results from a study in Eritrea (10). The prevalence of HSV-2 antibodies was unexpectedly high, as 15% of the children were infected at an age of 8 years, with an increase to 40% for the group of 17-to 20-year-olds.…”

“…Similar Western blot methods have been used successfully in other studies (2,21,43). The present method performed well in comparison with a commercial Western blot method ( Table 1).…”

“…The prevalence of HSV-2 antibodies was unexpectedly high, as 15% of the children were infected at an age of 8 years, with an increase to 40% for the group of 17-to 20-year-olds. In contrast, Ͻ5% of German and Estonian children had HSV-2 antibodies before the onset of sexual activity (40,43), and such antibodies were detected in only 1 of 70 children's sera from Eritrea (10).…”

“…For children at an age of 4 to 5 years, the prevalence has been reported to be 20% in England (15), 25% in Sweden (39), 30% in Germany (43), around 35% in Estonia (40), 50% in Hong Kong (15), and 59% in Eritrea (10). In the following years, there was an increase in all studies to between 37% (Sweden) and 75% (Estonia) in European countries and 97% in Eritrea.…”

Evaluation of Confirmatory Strategies for Detection of Type-Specific Antibodies against Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2

“…Thus, calculating the predictive values for a hypothetical collective with 10% HSV-2 seroprevalence, as found in German pregnant women (10,34), suggested a significant drop in the PPVs of the screening ELISAs, whereas the PPV of the EuW remained unchanged (for details see Table 3). …”