Abstract
Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) is endemic in Africa, although studies of this infection are rare in Congo. We evaluated seroprevalence and HHV-8 diversity among people living with HIV. We included 353 patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy. Antibodies against HHV-8 latency-associated nuclear antigen were detected by indirect immunofluorescence. In HHV-8 positive patients, we performed HHV-8 quantification in blood and saliva by real-time PCR and typing by Sanger sequencing of K1 open reading frame. HHV-8 seroprevalence was 19%, being male (odd ratio [OR] = 1.741, [95% Confidence interval {CI}, 0.97–3.07]; p = 0.0581) and having multiple sex partners before HIV diagnosis (OR = 1.682, [CI 95%, 0.97–2.92]; p = 0.0629) tended to be associated with HHV-8 seropositivity. Of the 64 HHV-8 seropositive patients, HHV-8 DNA was detected in 10 (16%) in saliva, 6 (9%) in whole-blood and in 2 (3%) in both whole-blood and saliva. Three out of 6 HHV-8 strains were subtypes A5, 2 subtype B1 and 1 subtype C. HHV-8 seroprevalence was relatively low with more frequent carriage in men, associated with asymptomatic oral excretion and a predominance of subtype A5. These data tend to support the hypothesis of horizontal transmission in people living with HIV in Brazzaville.
Highlights
Human Herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), called Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) was discovered in 1994 in the tissues of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) AIDS p atients1
Subtypes A and C are found in Europe, North America, Middle East and North Asia13–15; subtypes B and A5 are characteristic of A frica16; subtype D, on Pacific Islands and in T aiwan17; subtype E, in Native Americans and Brazilians18; Subtype F, firstly identified in U ganda19 and recently described in F rance20, and subtype Z, in a small cohort of Zambian children21
The country is considered an endemic area for these two viruses, the seroprevalence and subtypes of HHV-8 circulating in people living with HIV remains unknown
Summary
Human Herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), called Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) was discovered in 1994 in the tissues of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) AIDS p atients. Subtypes A and C are found in Europe, North America, Middle East and North Asia; subtypes B and A5 are characteristic of A frica; subtype D, on Pacific Islands and in T aiwan; subtype E, in Native Americans and Brazilians; Subtype F, firstly identified in U ganda and recently described in F rance, and subtype Z, in a small cohort of Zambian children21 As it stands, no studies have been done on HHV-8/HIV coinfection in Congo-Brazzaville. The country is considered an endemic area for these two viruses, the seroprevalence and subtypes of HHV-8 circulating in people living with HIV remains unknown. We determine the viral load and subtype diversity of HHV-8 circulating in our study population
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