Variation in KSHV prevalence between geographically proximate locations in Uganda

Angela Nalwoga,Nazzarena Labo,Alison Elliott,Stephen Cose,Denise Whitby,Claudios Muserere,Wendell Miley,Robert Newton,Belinda Chihota,Emily L Webb

doi:10.1186/s13027-020-00313-8

Abstract

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) transmission within endemic areas may vary. KSHV seroprevalence has been studied by different groups of researchers using different methods, making it difficult to make direct comparisons. Here we show results on KSHV seroprevalence using the same laboratory method from four different but geographically proximate populations in Uganda.Blood samples from the urban Entebbe Mother and Baby Study (EMaBS), the rural General Population Cohort (GPC), the fishing community Lake Victoria Island Intervention Study on Worms and Allergy related Diseases (LaVIISWA) and the high-risk sexual behaviour Good Health for Women Project (GHWP), were tested for IgG antibody levels to K8.1 and ORF73 recombinant proteins using ELISA.All adult participants of the EMaBS study and the GHWP were women, while the GPC (54% female) and LaVIISWA (52% female) studies had both males and females. EMaBS children were all 5 years of age while their mothers were 14 to 47 years of age. GHWP women were 15 to 45 years old, LaVIISWA participants were 1 to 72 years old while GPC participants were 1 to 103 years old. KSHV seropositivity varied in the different populations. In children aged 5 years, EMaBS had the lowest prevalence of 15% followed by GPC at 35% and LaVIISWA at 54%. In adult women, seropositivity varied from 69% (EMaBS) to 80% (LaVIISWA) to 87% (GPC) to 90% (GHWP).The reasons for the variation in prevalence are unclear but may reflect differences in the prevalence of cofactors between these four geographically proximate populations.

Highlights

Uganda has amongst the highest reported incidence of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) in the world [1] and the highest reported seroprevalence of the underlying causal agent, Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) [2,3,4]
Key message We show that KSHV prevalence varies even within geographically proximate locations in Uganda
We have examined the seroprevalence of KSHV in four population cohorts in Uganda

Summary

Introduction

Uganda has amongst the highest reported incidence of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) in the world [1] and the highest reported seroprevalence of the underlying causal agent, Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) [2,3,4]. Several risk factors for KSHV have been identified by our group, and others, including infection with HIV, malaria and helminths [2, 3, 6,7,8,9,10,11] The distribution of these may vary between regions within the same country leading to differences in the spread of KSHV, even between geographically proximate locations. In this manuscript, we have examined the seroprevalence of KSHV in four population cohorts in Uganda. These cohorts include an urban population (Entebbe Mother and Baby Study, EMaBS) [12], a land-locked rural population (General Population Cohort, GPC) [13, 14], a rural fishing community population in the islands of Lake Victoria (Lake Victoria Island Intervention Study on Worms and Allergy related Diseases, LaVIISWA) [15], and a high-risk sexual behaviour population recruited in an urban centre, but including highly mobile women who engage in transactional sex (Good Health for Women Project, GHWP) [16]

Methods

Results

Discussion