Seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 infection in individuals from health care centers in Mozambique: Potential for endemic and epidemic Kaposi's sarcoma

Abstract

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection is common in sub-Saharan Africa, but its prevalence in Mozambique is unknown. The seroprevalence of HHV-8 in a cohort of individuals seen at public health centers in Northern (n = 208), Central (n = 226), or Southern (n = 318) Mozambique was examined. All individuals were interviewed to obtain socioeconomic, demographic and clinical data and were tested for serum anti-HHV-8 antibodies using an immunofluorescence assay. The overall frequency of HHV-8 antibodies was 21.4% and, in spite of the diversity of epidemiological characteristics of the tested individuals, did not differ significantly among regions: 18.7%, 24.3% and 21.4% in the North, Center, and South, respectively (chi(2), 2.37; P = 0.305). The variables that were associated significantly with the presence of HHV-8 antibodies were gender, age, level of education, number of siblings and HIV serostatus, but these differed across the regions. In the North, although tested individuals lived under poor socioeconomic conditions, no association between HHV-8 infection and household variables was detected, with the exception of the number of siblings (P = 0.042). In the Central region, HHV-8 infection was associated with gender (P = 0.010), the number of household members (P = 0.031), and the place of attendance (P = 0.021). In the South, HHV-8 infection was associated with the number of siblings (P = 0.023) and HIV status (P = 0.002). The overall prevalence of HHV-8 seropositivity increased with age. These results demonstrate that Mozambique is another country in Africa with endemic HHV-8 infection, and, because of the AIDS epidemic, continued access to antiretroviral treatment is necessary to avert an outbreak of AIDS-Kaposi's sarcoma.

A Review of Human Herpesvirus 8, the Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus, in the Pediatric Population

“…In Uganda, childhood exposure to premasticated food (only 8.8% of participants) was not found to be a risk factor, although sharing plates (91% of participants) was associated with risk [11]. Low socioeconomic status was a contributing risk that may reflect more crowded and less hygienic living conditions as seen in childhood transmission of other oncogenic viruses such as EBV and hepatitis B [6,15,54,55]. There is no evidence for fecal-oral transmission [54].…”

Patterns of antibodies against latent and lytic antigens of human herpesvirus 8 in an endemic population and patients with Kaposi's sarcoma in Mozambique

“…A total of 88 persons were HIV positive (52 females and 36 males). The socioeconomic, demographic, and clinical characteristics of the study population have been presented previously [Caterino‐de‐Araujo et al, 2010].…”

“…IFAs to detect antibodies recognizing latent (IFA‐LANA) and lytic (IFA‐Lytic) antigens of HHV‐8 were conducted at Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo, Brazil as described previously [Silva et al, 2007; Caterino‐de‐Araujo et al, 2010]. Briefly, BCBL‐1 cells, a primary effusion lymphoma cell line latently infected with HHV‐8, or BCBL‐1 cells stimulated with tetradecanoyl phorbol ester acetate (TPA) to induce lytic replication were used to prepare slides for the IFA‐LANA and IFA‐Lytic assays, respectively.…”

“…Infection with HIV‐1 has been shown to be an important co‐factor in the development of KS [Schulz, 2000; Hengee et al, 2002; Aresté and Blackbourn, 2009], and in many African countries, the incidence of KS has risen dramatically since the onset of AIDS [Dedicoat and Newton, 2003; Sissolak and Mayaud, 2005]. In Mozambique, a country that is experiencing an epidemic of AIDS and in which HHV‐8 is endemic [Caterino‐de‐Araujo et al, 2010], no study on the pattern of antibodies against HHV‐8 has been conducted. Therefore, the present study had the following objectives: (i) to present and compare the patterns of antibodies for HHV‐8 in serum samples of persons with and without KS in Mozambique; (ii) to identify variables associated with such patterns of antibodies; and (iii) to speculate on predictive markers for the development of KS in this geographical area.…”

HHV-8 Seroprevalence and Genotype Distribution in Africa, 1998–2017: A Systematic Review

“…It should be borne in mind that the reported seroprevalences are from studied populations which employed different designs, approaches, populations, tests and interpretation algorithms, even within the same country. Thus, it could be difficult to make direct comparisons between and among studied populations [ 8 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 26 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ...…”