No Evidence of Human Herpesvirus 8 among Iranian Patients Infected with HIV

• Main Authors: Amitis RAMEZANI, Elham SABOORI, Kayhan AZADMANESH, Minoo MOHRAZ, Monireh KAZEMIMANESH, Afsaneh KARAMI, Mohammad BANIFAZL, Hanieh GOLCHEHREGAN, Arezoo AGHAKHANI
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2016-08-01
• Series: Iranian Journal of Public Health
• Online Access: http://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/7327

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Kaposi’s sarcoma is a vascular malignancy, which frequently occurs among immunocompromised individuals such as transplant recipients and patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is considered the etiological agent of all forms of Kaposi’s sarcoma. Though some seroepidemiological studies conducted on the prevalence of HHV-8 in Iran, there are insufficient data on the prevalence of HHV-8 viremia in HIV infected patients. We therefore, aimed to determine the prevalence of HHV-8 viremia in general population and HIV infected patients without Kaposi’s sarcoma in Tehran, Iran.</p><p><strong>Methods</strong>: We conducted a cross sectional survey on 99 patients with HIV infection referred to Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS and 40 healthy controls in Tehran, Iran from January to April 2014. The presence of HHV-8 DNA was detected in buffy coat samples of enrolled subjects using nested PCR assay.</p><p><strong>Results</strong>: A total of 99 HIV infected patients with mean age of 37.9±10 yr and 40 healthy controls with mean age of 39±11.5 yr were enrolled in the study. The mean CD4 count was 410.3± 211.4 cells/mm³. HHV-8 DNA was not detected in both healthy control and HIV patient groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong>: This survey showed low rate of HHV-8 DNA in healthy controls and HIV patients. Considering our findings HHV-8 infection does not seem to be widespread in our population. Further studies focusing on different regions of Iran appear to be required to have a more accurate estimation.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), Prevalence, Viremia, Iran</p>