Non-detection of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) DNA in HHV-8-seropositive blood donors from three Brazilian regions

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 6; no. 8; p. e23546
• Main Authors: Levi, José Eduardo, Nascimento, Maria Claudia, Sumita, Laura Masami, de Souza, Vanda Akico Ueda Fick, Freire, Wilton S, Mayaud, Philippe, Pannuti, Claudio S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 08-08-2011; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; Blood; Blood & organ donations; Blood banks; Blood donation; Blood Donors; Blood transfusion; Blood transfusions; Brazil - epidemiology; Castleman's disease; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA, Viral - blood; DNA, Viral - genetics; Effusion; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Etiology; Genetic research; Genomes; Health risk assessment; Herpes simplex; Herpes viruses; Herpesvirus 8, Human - genetics; Herpesvirus 8, Human - immunology; Humans; Immunoglobulins; Infections; Infectious diseases; Kaposi's sarcoma; Kaposis sarcoma; Lymphoma; Lymphomas; Medicine; Open Reading Frames - genetics; Prevalence; Primary effusion lymphoma; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Reproducibility of Results; Risk factors; Sarcoma; Sarcoma, Kaposi - blood; Sarcoma, Kaposi - epidemiology; Sarcoma, Kaposi - virology; Studies; Tropical diseases; Viruses; Brazil; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Africa; Tanzania; Italy; Malta
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023546

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), also known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), is the etiologic agent of all forms of Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma and the plasmablastic cell variant of multicentric Castleman disease. In endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa, blood transfusions have been associated with a substantial risk of HHV-8 transmission. By contrast, several studies among healthy blood donors from North America have failed to detect HHV-8 DNA in samples of seropositive individuals. In this study, using a real-time PCR assay, we investigated the presence of HHV-8 DNA in whole-blood samples of 803 HHV-8 blood donors from three Brazilian states (São Paulo, Amazon, Bahia) who tested positive for HHV-8 antibodies, in a previous multicenter study. HHV-8 DNA was not detected in any sample. Our findings do not support the introduction of routine HHV-8 screening among healthy blood donors in Brazil. (WC = 140).