title: Seroprevalence of human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) in countries of Southeast Asia compared to the USA, the Caribbean and Africa.
abstract: Seroprevalence of HHV-8 has been studied in Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad, Jamaica and the USA, in both healthy individuals and those infected with HIV. Seroprevalence was found to be low in these countries in both the healthy and the HIV-infected populations. This correlates with the fact that hardly any AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma has been reported in these countries. In contrast, the African countries of Ghana, Uganda and Zambia showed high seroprevalences in both healthy and HIV-infected populations. This suggests that human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8) may be either a recently introduced virus or one that has extremely low infectivity. Nasopharyngeal and oral carcinoma patients from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka who have very high EBV titres show that only 3/82 (3.7%) have antibody to HHV-8, demonstrating that there is little, if any, cross-reactivity between antibodies to these two gamma viruses.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Biotechnologies Inc., Columbia, MD 21046, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ablashi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chatlynne
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Norhanom
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Chandana
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Churdboonchart
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kulpradist
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patnaik
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liegmann
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masood
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reitz
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cleghorn
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manns
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rabkin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Biggar
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jack
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Whitman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boshoff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D017691:Caribbean Region / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology