Detection of Human Herpes Virus 8 in Kaposi's sarcoma tissues at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia

Seroprevalence and molecular diversity of Human Herpesvirus 8 among people living with HIV in Brazzaville, Congo

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.

Selected genes of Human herpesvirus-8 associated Kaposi's sarcoma among patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 and Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease Syndrome

INTRODUCTION

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a kind of cancer that causes flat or raised lesions containing Human herpes virus 8 (HHV8). The KS lesions are common among immunosuppressed HIV patients. Highly Active Antiretroviral (HHART) treats and prevents the development of KS. The objective of this study was to determine the presence of K1 and K15 (predominant alleles) genes in Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) among immunosuppressed patients due to HIV-1.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study where consecutive sampling technique was adopted to pick archived tissue blocks from the Thematic Unit of Anatomic Pathology, Department of Human Pathology, College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi and Department of Laboratory Medicine, Histology Section, Kenyatta National Hospital.

RESULTS

Upon staining 81 tissue blocks with H & E, 84% (68/81) were diagnosed as KS and 16% (13/81) as KS-like. The K1 and K15 (P) genes were both detected at 88.9% (72/81) in the tissue blocks, with 95.8% (69/72) detection from KS and 4.2% (3/72) from the KS-like.

CONCLUSION

The K1 and K15 (P) genes of KSHV were present among the immunosuppressed patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1. It is important to carry out K1 and K15 (P) genes detection on tissues that are diagnosed as KS or KS-like by histology technique.