Epidemic Form Research Articles

Implementation of kaiser permanente hazard vulnerability analysis at indonesian emergency medical team field hospital

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the level of vulnerability of The Indonesian Emergency Medical Team Field Hospital to disasters. Methods: This study used Kaiser Permanente Hazard Vulnerability Analysis to analyze the vulnerability of Indonesian Emergency Medical Team Field Hospital services to disasters or hazards. The questionnaire was filled out by researchers who participated in the activities of the Indonesian Emergency Medical Team Field Hospital. Results: Based on the analysis conducted, there are five events with the most significant risk in the form of earthquakes (83%), extreme temperatures (67%), epidemics (67%), power failure (67%), and generator failure (67%). In addition, there were also 12 events with the lowest risk of 11%. Discussion: This vulnerability analysis can realistically describe the vulnerability of the Indonesian Emergency Medical Team Field Hospital to disasters.

Numerical Computation of SEIR Model for the Zika Virus Spreading

The purpose of this study is to present the numerical performances and interpretations of the SEIR nonlinear system based on the Zika virus spreading by using the stochastic neural networks based intelligent computing solver. The epidemic form of the nonlinear system represents the four dynamics of the patients, susceptible patients S(y), exposed patients hospitalized in hospital E(y), infected patients I(y), and recovered patients R(y), i.e., SEIR model. The computing numerical outcomes and performances of the system are examined by using the artificial neural networks (ANNs) and the scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) for the training of the networks, i.e., ANNs-SCG. The correctness of the ANNs-SCG scheme is observed by comparing the proposed and reference solutions for three cases of the SEIR model to solve the nonlinear system based on the Zika virus spreading dynamics through the knacks of ANNs-SCG procedure based on exhaustive experimentations. The outcomes of the ANNs-SCG algorithm are found consistently in good agreement with standard numerical solutions with negligible errors. Moreover, the procedure’s constancy, dependability, and exactness are perceived by using the values of state transitions, error histogram measures, correlation, and regression analysis.

Cholera: a modern view on the problem

Cholera is an acute anthroponotic intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It is characterized by a fecal-oral route of transmission, damage to the small intestine, watery diarrhea, vomiting, and rapid loss of fluid and electrolytes by the body with the development of varying degrees of dehydration up to hypovolemic shock and death. It is one of highly infectious diseases. It usually spreads in the form of epidemics. Endemic foci are located in Africa, South America, India, and Southeast Asia.

Impact of the Cholera Epidemic of 1867–1868 on the Global Excess Deaths of the Resident Population in the Province of Córdoba

Cholera, a disease originating in India, until the beginning of the 19th Century had rarely manifested itself in the West. The disease arrived in Argentina for the first time in an epidemic form in 1859. Since that date, cholera has entered the country on other occasions and spread to the interior, causing serious disorders, which sometimes added to other tragic events, such as the War of Paraguay or the yellow fever epidemic. The aim of this study was to calculate the excess deaths associated with the cholera epidemic from 1867 to 1868 in the province of Córdoba, a population of more than 175,000 inhabitants. Parish data on excess deaths precisely respond to this need. The excess mortality associated with the cholera epidemic was calculated as being seven times higher than the previous year; that is, the number of deaths from the disease was 1767 cases in the province of Córdoba. During the peak of the disease, in January 1868, mortality rose to 12.2 times higher. Excess deaths are an essential measure to monitor the impact of the epidemic.

Analysis of Zika Virus Sequence Data Associated with a School Cohort in Haiti.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infections occurred in epidemic form in the Americas in 2014-2016, with some of the earliest isolates in the region coming from Haiti. We isolated ZIKV from 20 children with acute undifferentiated febrile illness who were part of a cohort of children seen at a school clinic in the Gressier region of Haiti. The virus was also isolated from three pools of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes collected at the same location. On phylogenetic analysis, three distinct ZIKV clades were identified. Strains from all three clades were present in Haiti in 2014, making them among the earliest isolates identified in the Western Hemisphere. Strains from all three clades were also isolated in 2016, indicative of their persistence across the time period of the epidemic. Mosquito isolates were collected in 2016 and included representatives from two of the three clades; in one instance, ZIKV was isolated from a pool of male mosquitoes, suggestive of vertical transmission of the virus. The identification of multiple ZIKV clades in Haiti at the beginning of the epidemic suggests that Haiti served as a nidus for transmission within the Caribbean.

Gaza and the Great March of Return: Enduring violence and spaces of wounding

AbstractThis paper develops an agenda for political geographical work on violence, war, and trauma. Drawing from an analysis of the Great March of Return, a series of mass demonstrations in the Gaza Strip in 2018 and 2019, it argues that political geography and related fields could be enriched by the concepts of enduring violence and wounding. Enduring violence is offered as a supplement to existing geographical work on slow violence and cognate concepts such as ‘everyday’, banal′, and ‘chronic’ violence, offering fresh ways of understanding the long‐lasting effects of violence and their specific material origins. Wounding is offered as a supplement to political geographical work on necropolitics and the ‘right to kill’, emphasising how a concomitant ‘right to maim’ troubles contemporary theorisations of biopower and necropolitics, and extending geographical work on trauma to include physical bodily trauma. Taken together, the argument is not only that acute (or epidemic) forms of violence can have chronic (or endemic) consequences but also that some forms of harm, like wounding, are characterised by material configurations that are calibrated or otherwise capacitated with the power to impart future harms even in the absence of future ‘blows’. Taking inspiration from geopolitical forensics, enduring violence places new emphasis on the ongoing and lasting harms that inhere in specific geo‐materialities of wounding. The paper concludes with a reflection on the relation between enduring violence and wounding and their implications for geographical work on violence, war, and trauma.

DETERMINATION OF RELATIONSHIP OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS WITH STRIPE RUST IN WHEAT

Changes in climate scenario affect natural conditions in farming system, hence affect plant pests and diseases development. Universally, adverse effects of climate changes namely failing the ecosystem apparatuses that control the balance of plant pests and diseases, failing the plant resistance and the development of environmental situation supportive plant pests and diseases growth in general. The disposed cultivars and favorable ecological circumstances play part towards rust diseases in epidemic form. In this study meteorological data and disease incidence data were correlated to establish relationship between environmental variables and stripe rust development. Linear correlation was established among minimum and maximum air temperature and development of rust was positive. Impact of relative humidity could not be assessed because variation in range between minimum and maximum mean relative humidity remained non-significant during the period under study. However, data generated seems insufficient to conclude authentic result to determine the role of relative humidity in stripe rust development. Three genotypes having different responses against stripe rust were studied to correlate the response of yellow rust with epidemiological factors (temperature, relative moisture, and precipitation). Impact of meteorological factors indicated that environment significantly affected disease incidence and severity of yellow rust through its impact on development rate of the pathogen. Same cultivars responded differentially under unlike meteorological conditions.

Counteracting the smallpox epidemic in Poland in 1963

Great epidemics constituted one of the many important factors shaping the fate of human societies, from prehistory to modern times. Long-lasting pandemic epidemics, covering large areas and causing incalculable losses, were of great importance in history. They contributed to a previously unprecedented measurability, and thus a significant decrease in the population density. They left their mark on the political, economic, and economic structure of many cultures. It is worth noting that the most common diseases in epidemic form include syphilis, leprosy, bubonic plague, typhoid and spotted fever, smallpox, measles, influenza, tuberculosis, cholera, distemper, and dysentery. The vast majority of these came to light during the medieval and early modern periods, when hygiene and the general standard of living raised many concerns. The paper given was written to analyze the counteracting epidemic of smallpox in Poland in 1963.

Severe influenza A in a Tunisian ICU sentinel SARI centre: Epidemiological and clinical features.

IntroductionInfluenza A virus infection is a contagious acute respiratory infection which mostly evolves in an epidemic form, less frequently as pandemic outbreaks. It can take a severe clinical form that needs to be managed in intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical aspects of influenza A, then to determine independent predictive factors of ICU mortality in Abderrahmen Mami hospital, Ariana, Tunisia.MethodsIt was a single-center study, including all hospitalized patients in intensive care, between November 1st, 2009 and October 31st, 2019, with influenza A virus infection. We recorded demographic, clinical and biological data, evolving features; then multivariate analysis of the predictive factors of ICU mortality was realized.ResultsDuring the study period (10 consecutive seasons), 120 patients having severe Influenza A were admitted (Proportion = 2.5%) from all hospitalized patients, with a median age of 48 years and a gender-ratio of 1.14. Among women, 14 were pregnant. Only 7 patients (5.8%) have had seasonal flu vaccine during the year before ICU admission. The median values of the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Acute Physiologic and Chronic Health Evaluation II and Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment were respectively 26, 10 and 3. Virus strains identified with polymerase chain reaction were H1N1 pdm09 (84.2%) and H3N2 (15.8%). Antiviral therapy was prescribed in 88 (73.3%) patients. A co-infection was recorded in 19 cases: bacterial (n = 17) and aspergillaire (n = 2). An acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was diagnosed in 82 patients. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) was conducted for 72 (60%) patients with success in 34 cases. Endotracheal intubation was performed in 59 patients with median duration of invasive mechanical ventilation 8 [3.25–13] days. The most frequent complications were acute kidney injury (n = 50, 41.7%), shock (n = 48, 40%), hospital-acquired infections (n = 46, 38.8%) and thromboembolic events (n = 19, 15.8%). The overall ICU mortality rate was of 31.7% (deceased n = 38). Independent predictive factors of ICU mortality identified were: age above 56 years (OR = 7.417; IC95% [1.474–37.317]; p = 0.015), PaO2/FiO2 ≤ 95 mmHg (OR = 9.078; IC95% [1.636–50.363]; p = 0.012) and lymphocytes count ≤ 1.325 109/L (OR = 10.199; IC95% [1.550–67.101]; p = 0.016).ConclusionInfluenza A in ICU is not uncommon, even in A(H1N1) dominant seasons; its management is highly demanding. It is responsible for considerable morbi-mortality especially in elderly patients.

Identification of Burkholderia mallei Isolates with Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism.

Burkholderia mallei is the main cause of glanders as a dangerous contagious zoonosis disease that is mostly observed in single-hoofed animals, especially horses. Modern molecular techniques have been recently employed to improve epidemiology for identifying and searching for strains of this bacterium at different times and locations. Due to the unknown number of circulating strains and lack of preventive methods, glanders is still observed in the form of epidemics. The present study aimed to evaluate six field isolates plus two laboratory strains of Borkolderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. All the isolates and strains were microbially cultured in the glycerol nutrient and glycerol agar media. The individually grown colonies of the bacterium were used in the biochemical tests. The DNA of isolates was extracted by boiling, and the PCR-RFLP test was conducted on their genome. Finally, the bacterium was injected into guinea pigs to induce the Straus reaction. The biochemical assays (or bioassays) confirmed the isolates as Burkholderia mallei. The PCR-RFLP assay demonstrated a product for Burkholderia mallei with a length of 650 bp. Nevertheless, 250 and 400 bp were produced for Burkholderia pseudomallei. The swollen scrotum pointed to the occurrence of the Straus reaction. The PCR-RFLP is a proper differential diagnosis technique for B. mallei; moreover, it is a suitable method for differentiating between Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei. This technique can detect Burkholderia mallei in a short time with high precision and sensitivity.

Yellow Rust (puccinia striiformis.f.sp.tritici) on Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): Effect and Managements Methods-A Review

Yellow rust is caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is one of the known pathogens of wheat. This rust usually occurs at early in the growth season of wheat, when temperature ranges between 2 and 15 °C; but it may occur to a maximum temperature of 23 °C. High humidity and rainfall are conducive for increasing the infection (disease) on both leaf blade and leaf sheath, even on spikes when the disease occurred as epidemic form. Stunted and weakened plants, shriveled grains, and fewer spikes are among the symptoms of the disease. Therefore the objective of this paper is to review Effect of yellow rust (puccinia striiformis.f.sp.tritici) on wheat production and their management options. Yellow rust yield losses can be 50%, but in severe situations 100% is vulnerable. In countries where wheat is grown in winters or at high altitudes, stripe rust is a common threat, but not more significant than wheat leaf rust and stem rust , which are continuous threats in all wheat-growing seasons up to maturity of the crops. Epidemics of yellow rust have become more frequent and widespread at higher altitudes in south-eastern Ethiopia due to frequent production of mega cultivars, varietal susceptibility, expansion of wheat mono cropping, development and introduction of new virulent races and conducive environmental factors prevailing rust development. There are many methods of yellow rust (puccinia striiformis) management like bio control, chemical, cultural control and breeding for diseases resistance, among this, breeding resistant varieties is the most cost-effective method to control this rust. Fungicides are available but vary in ability to control this rust depending on their registration restrictions by state or national governments in addition they are not recommended more due environmentally unfavorable. Keywords: - Bread wheat, Rust management, yellow rust, wheat yield DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/12-12-03 Publication date: June 30 th 2022

The emerging fifth epidemiologic subtype of Kaposi sarcoma in HIV-negative men who have sex with men at a tertiary care center in NYC from 2000 to 2021.

11579 Background: Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a vascular tumor caused by human herpesvirus 8, also known as Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus. There are 4 widely accepted distinct epidemiologic subtypes of KS: classic, endemic, iatrogenic, and epidemic (HIV-associated) forms. An emerging 5th subtype is increasingly recognized: non-epidemic KS in men who have sex with men (MSM) who are HIV-negative and have no other known causes for immunodeficiency. Objectives: To characterize a cohort of non-epidemic KS seen at the Sarcoma Medical Oncology or Dermatology Clinics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City from 2000 to 2021 to identify risk factors, presentation, treatment course, and prognosis of these patients. Methods: Following IRB approval, a retrospective observational study was performed. Eligible patients were identified through the Electronic Health Records (EHR). The patients were characterized based on age at presentation, sex, gender identity, comorbidities, coinfections, and treatments and outcomes amongst other factors. Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools. Results: Seventy-two patients were identified. The median age at time of diagnosis was 58 (range: 32-83). At initial diagnosis, 46% (33/72) of patients underwent observation, 50% (36/72) received localized treatment (i.e. excision, cryotherapy or topical therapy), and 4% (3/72) received systemic treatment with chemotherapy. The median duration of follow-up was 22 months. In follow-up, 43% (31/72) of patients had progression of disease requiring recurrent treatment: 24% (17/72) received localized treatment while 18% (13/72) received chemotherapy. Patients who received chemotherapy, predominantly pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, received treatment for a median duration of 13 months (range: 2-72 months). By the end of the follow-up period, 7 patients had died, of which 2 deaths were attributed to KS. During follow up, 10% (7/72) of patients were diagnosed with a lymphoproliferative disorder. Conclusions: This study is the largest yet, to our knowledge, to characterize the non-epidemic KS subtype in HIV-negative MSM. It is important to recognize this KS subtype to identify these individuals, who despite not having HIV are at increased risk for KS. Accurate recognition of this subtype may also allay patient concerns regarding overall prognosis, given that the majority of these patients present with indolent disease and have favorable outcomes compared to the epidemic variant of KS. Additional research is needed to understand the potential increased risk of lymphoproliferative disorders.

Kaposi Sarcoma with Mucocutaneous Involvement in French Guiana: An Epidemiological Study between 1969 and 2019.

Data on Kaposi sarcoma in French Guiana are scarce and out of date. This territory presents unique epidemiological features. The objectives of this retrospective study were to analyse the clinical features, outcome and incidence of the different forms of Kaposi sarcoma in patients diagnosed between 1969 and 2019. The study population comprised a total of 52 patients. Clinical forms included epidemic Kaposi sarcoma (n=30), endemic (n=18), iatrogenic (n=2), classic (n=1) and unclassified Kaposi sarcoma (n=1). The mean annual incidence rate of epidemic Kaposi reached a peak in the 1990s (0.93/100,000) then decreased in the 2000s (0.33/100,000), while the incidence of endemic Kaposi sarcoma reached a peak in the 1980s (0.82/100,000) before decreasing in the 2000s (0.12/100,000). Factors associated with the epidemic form were: sexual intercourse between men (p=0.0054) and Haitian origin (p=0.035). The presence of nodules and/or tumour, lesions limited to the lower limbs, and age >65 years were associated with the endemic form. While Creole populations seem to be as affected by endemic Kaposi sarcoma as their African counterparts, the dynamics of Kaposi sarcoma in French Guiana are now dominated by the epidemic form.

The ‘Scourge of Modern Times’: Cholera, Race, and Empire in Early Nineteenth-Century British Illustrated Print Culture

Abstract The coronavirus pandemic has brought to the fore concerns over the emergence of a new deadly disease, its rapid spread across global networks, and the ostensible threat posed by the Other. These concerns are not new. The emergence of an epidemic form of cholera in what European medics described as the fetid jungles of Bengal in 1817 and the five pandemics that swept across the world inspired similar fears. With cholera’s arrival in England in 1831, it took shape in the British cultural imagination as an Indian entity that threatened Britain not just with death, but with degeneration. As medics were unable to identify its cause, cholera was depicted both through its effects on the body and as an embodied figure. Medical and satiric illustrations attempted to make visible the invisible illness. In pictures of the cholera patient, the disease was framed not by its most visceral and racial effects, but by its most visible symptom: the body turned blue. It then became an embodied agent: first as an orientalized scarecrow supposedly used by doctors to frighten the populace and then as a malevolent spectre spreading death. Visually, cholera was characterized by the colour blue, which recalled another apparent product of India, indigo, and served to colonize medical knowledge through an acceptance of certain characteristics over others. Yet, circulated through print, these images depicted the horrors of the disease to the public, visually demonstrating how cholera could corrupt the English body and the heart of the British Empire.

Classic and exertional heatstroke.

In the past two decades, record-breaking heatwaves have caused an increasing number of heat-related deaths, including heatstroke, globally. Heatstroke is a heat illness characterized by the rapid rise of core body temperature above 40 °C and central nervous system dysfunction. It is categorized as classic when it results from passive exposure to extreme environmental heat and as exertional when it develops during strenuous exercise. Classic heatstroke occurs in epidemic form and contributes to 9-37% of heat-related fatalities during heatwaves. Exertional heatstroke sporadically affects predominantly young and healthy individuals. Under intensive care, mortality reaches 26.5% and 63.2% in exertional and classic heatstroke, respectively. Pathological studies disclose endothelial cell injury, inflammation, widespread thrombosis and bleeding in most organs. Survivors of heatstroke may experience long-term neurological and cardiovascular complications with a persistent risk of death. No specific therapy other than rapid cooling is available. Physiological and morphological factors contribute to the susceptibility to heatstroke. Future research should identify genetic factors that further describe individual heat illness risk and form the basis of precision-based public health response. Prioritizing research towards fundamental mechanism and diagnostic biomarker discovery is crucial for the design of specific management approaches.

Staphylococcus Aureus: A Major Pathogen of Food Poisoning

Food poisoning that involves multiple etiologies is reported from developing as well as developed nations.Among the microbial causes, Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen of food poisoning that can occur in sporadic and epidemic form. It may cause life-threatening infections in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised persons. Staphylococcal food poisoning is responsible for 241,000 cases in the United States annually. A variety of foods, such as meat and meat products, milk and milk products, poultry, egg, fish, vegetable salad, and cream-filled pastries are implicated as a source of staphylococcal food poisoning. Unhygienic handling of food is considered an important source of S. aureus contamination. Enterotoxins produced by S. aureus play a vital role in the pathogenesis of staphylococcal food poisoning. Due to ingestion of preformed toxins in the food, the incubation period of staphylococcal food poisoning is very short. The main symptoms of staphylococcal food poisoning are nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. The detection of enterotoxin is highly imperative for the investigation of staphylococcal food poisoning. Most of the patients do not require any treatment as the disease is generally self-limiting and normally resolves within 24–48 h after onset. Hygienic production of food and education of food handlers about the principles of food hygiene are the main strategies for the prevention of staphylococcal food poisoning. The objective of this communication is to delineate the growing significance of S. aureus as a leading cause of foodborne intoxication.

ДИФФЕРЕНЦИАЛЬНОЕ МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ ПРОЦЕССОВ РАСПРОСТРАНЕНИЯ И ЛИКВИДАЦИИ ИНФЕКЦИОННЫХ ЗАБОЛЕВАНИЙ ЛЕСНЫХ НАСАЖДЕНИЙ

The destabilization of the sustainable state of forests and the associated deterioration of the sanitary climate are mainly associated with their diseases. One of the main tasks of forest pathology monitoring is the detection of foci of disease of stands and the fight against their spread. In this paper, we propose a mathematical description of the processes of the spread and elimination of infectious diseases of forest plantations using the deterministic SIR (Susceptible, Infected, Recovered) model, the main provisions of which are basic in the interpretation of various kinds of infectious diseases, often taking the form of epidemics. Assuming the constancy of the total number of healthy infected subjects during the spread of the disease and the direct proportional dependence of the infection rate on the number of infected, the results obtained indicate that: a) if at the initial moment of time the number of infected individuals does not exceed a certain deterministic value, then plants do not become infected over time; b) in cases if this number is greater than a fixed value, then the part of individuals susceptible to the disease will become infected. It is shown that despite the abstract nature and the impossibility of probabilistic interpretation of the detection of foci of the disease, the proposed differential model can be effective in solving the problems of the spread, localization and prediction of tree diseases and is used, practically, for any closed biological and ecological system

Mucormycosis in COVID- 19 Patients Poses a Challenge to Public Health

Mucormycosis is an emerging and re-emerging mycosis that is reported from many countries of the world including India. The disease is caused by filamentous fungi that belonged to the genus Absidia, Cunninghamella, Mucor, Rhizomucor, and Rhizopus. These fungi are widely prevalent in our environment, and have the potential to invade any organ of the body including the sinuses, lung, brain, heart, kidney, joint and others. The source of infection is exogenous, and the respiratory tract is considered as the prime portal of entry of the fungi. Mucormycosis can occur in sporadic as well as in epidemic form. The maximum cases of mucormycosis are caused by Rhizopus oryzae. Globally, disease due to Rhizopus oryzae affects over 10,000 persons each year. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has posed a great challenge to the public health authorities. Mucormycosis in COVID-19 patients are reported from India, and also other nations. Rhino-orbital-cerebral form of mucormycosis is frequently encountered in clinical setting throughout the world. Diabetes mellitus and steroid therapy are the most important risk factors that predispose the patients to mucormycosis. The laboratory help is imperative to confirm an unequivocal diagnosis of disease. Liposomal amphotericin-B and posaconazole are the antifungal drugs that are recommended for the treatment of mucormycosis the patients

The ways to organize of distance learning in higher military educational institutions of Ukraine and the world during overcome of the coronavirus infection pandemic Covid-19

The global informatization of modern society, development of telecommunication, communicular and information technologies - on the one hand and the powerful challenges to all humanity in the form of epidemics (coronavirus infection COVID-19, bird flu, various forms of pneumatic and hepatitis), natural and man-made disasters, military and political conflicts, wars - from the second, determine significant changes in priority forms of educational process, and distance learning (DL), in these conditions, becomes the only possible option for providing quality educational services with minimal financial expenses for its organization.

Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus, the Etiological Agent of All Epidemiological Forms of Kaposi's Sarcoma.

Simple SummaryKaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is one of the seven oncogenic viruses currently recognized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Its presence for Kaposi’s sarcoma development is essential and knowledge on the oncogenic process has increased since its discovery in 1994. However, some uncertainties remain to be clarified, in particular on the exact routes of transmission and disparities in KSHV seroprevalence and the prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma worldwide. Here, we summarized the current data on the KSHV viral particle’s structure, its genome, the replication, its seroprevalence, the viral diversity and the lytic and latent oncogenesis proteins involved in Kaposi’s sarcoma. Lastly, we reported the environmental, immunological and viral factors possibly associated with KSHV transmission that could also play a role in the development of Kaposi’s sarcoma.Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also called human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), is an oncogenic virus belonging to the Herpesviridae family. The viral particle is composed of a double-stranded DNA harboring 90 open reading frames, incorporated in an icosahedral capsid and enveloped. The viral cycle is divided in the following two states: a short lytic phase, and a latency phase that leads to a persistent infection in target cells and the expression of a small number of genes, including LANA-1, v-FLIP and v-cyclin. The seroprevalence and risk factors of infection differ around the world, and saliva seems to play a major role in viral transmission. KSHV is found in all epidemiological forms of Kaposi’s sarcoma including classic, endemic, iatrogenic, epidemic and non-epidemic forms. In a Kaposi’s sarcoma lesion, KSHV is mainly in a latent state; however, a small proportion of viral particles (<5%) are in a replicative state and are reported to be potentially involved in the proliferation of neighboring cells, suggesting they have crucial roles in the process of tumorigenesis. KSHV encodes oncogenic proteins (LANA-1, v-FLIP, v-cyclin, v-GPCR, v-IL6, v-CCL, v-MIP, v-IRF, etc.) that can modulate cellular pathways in order to induce the characteristics found in all cancer, including the inhibition of apoptosis, cells’ proliferation stimulation, angiogenesis, inflammation and immune escape, and, therefore, are involved in the development of Kaposi’s sarcoma.