Seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 and hepatitis C virus among drug users in Shanghai, China.

Tiejun Zhang,Charles Wood,Ying Liu,Yuyan Zhang,Na He,Jun Wang,Veenu Minhas

doi:10.3390/v6062519

Tiejun Zhang, Charles Wood + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/v6062519

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Journal: Viruses	Publication Date: Jun 23, 2014
Citations: 33	License type: CC BY 3.0

Affiliation: Fudan University, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Abstract

To elucidate and compare the seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among Chinese drug users, a cross-sectional study of 441 participants, was conducted in Shanghai, China, from 2012 through 2013. Seventy-seven (17.5%) participants were found to be positive for HHV8 antibodies, while 271 (61.5%) participants were positive for HCV. No significant association between HHV8 seropositivity and drug use characteristics, sexual behaviors, HCV, or syphilis was observed. In contrast, a statistically significant association between HCV seropositivity and injected drug history (OR, 2.18, 95% CI 1.41–3.37) was detected, whereas no statistically significant association between HCV seropositivity and syphilis infection (OR, 7.56, 95% CI 0.94–60.57) were observed. Pairwise comparisons showed no significant differences between latent and lytic antibodies regarding HCV and HHV8 serostatus. The study demonstrated a moderate but elevated prevalence of HHV8 infection among drug users. The discordance between HHV8 and HCV infections suggests that blood borne transmission of HHV8 might not be the predominant mode of transmission in this population, which is in contrast to HCV.

Highlights

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), known as Kaposi’s Sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV), was discovered in 1994 and is known to be the etiologic agent for Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), and multicentric Castleman’s disease [1,2,3,4]
The present study aimed to address the status of HHV8 infection amongst a group of drug users from mainland China
A moderate seroprevalence (17.5%) of HHV8 was identified, which is relatively lower than that (32.7%) among men who have sex with men (MSM), but higher than the general population in China [20]. Their hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection status was evaluated in parallel, and as expected a high HCV seroprevalence (61.5%) was observed among the study participants. This high seroprevalence of HCV among drug users is in accordance with findings from previous studies in China [15,16]

Summary

Introduction

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), known as Kaposi’s Sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV), was discovered in 1994 and is known to be the etiologic agent for Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), and multicentric Castleman’s disease [1,2,3,4]. Nonsexual and vertical transmission routes are believed to be of importance in endemic areas in a number of African countries, and a number of studies have demonstrated that saliva contact may be the major mode of transmission [6,7]. Of particular concern are drug users, since the possibility of blood transmission may facilitate HHV8 transmission, and increase the prevalence of infection among this population. Evidence of blood borne transmission of HHV8 among injection-drug users has been suggested previously, but the data generated are from different population and could not exclude the possibility that the virus is transmitted via other modes of infection, such as via sexual contact and/or general behaviors accompanying the use of drugs rather than the drug use itself [12,13,14]

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