Patterns of human herpesvirus-8 oral shedding among diverse cohorts of human herpesvirus-8 seropositive persons

• Published in: Infectious agents and cancer 2016-02, Vol.11 (7), p.7-7, Article 7
• Main Authors: Bender Ignacio, Rachel A, Goldman, Jason D, Magaret, Amalia S, Selke, Stacy, Huang, Meei-Li, Gantt, Soren, Johnston, Christine, Phipps, Warren T, Schiffer, Joshua T, Zuckerman, Richard A, McClelland, R Scott, Celum, Connie, Corey, Larry, Wald, Anna, Casper, Corey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antiviral agents; Care and treatment; Complications and side effects; Health aspects; Herpes; Herpesvirus diseases
• ISSN: 1750-9378; 1750-9378
• DOI: 10.1186/s13027-016-0052-2

Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), the etiologic agent of Kaposi sarcoma (KS), establishes lifelong latent infection with periodic lytic replication ("shedding") at mucosal sites, especially the oropharynx. Patterns of HHV-8 shedding are not well understood, and require elucidation to better predict risk of HHV-8 related malignancies in those infected. We sought to characterize patterns of HHV-8 oropharyngeal shedding among diverse cohorts that enrolled HHV-8 seropositive persons. We quantified HHV-8 oral shedding using PCR among HHV-8 seropositive persons who collected at least 14 days of oral swabs in 22 studies on 3 continents. We excluded persons taking antivirals during sampling or any prior use of antiretrovirals in those who were HIV-infected. 248 participants were enrolled from the US, Peru, Cameroon, Uganda, and Kenya; 61 % were men, 58 % were HIV seropositive, and 16 % had KS. Overall, 3,123 of 10,557 samples (29.6 %) had HHV-8 detected. Quantity of virus shed was highly correlated with shedding rate, (ρ = 0.72, p