Prevalence of, and risk factors for Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus infection among blood donors in Brazil: A multi-center serosurvey.

Abstract

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is endemic in the Amazon and rare in southern regions of Brazil. However, geographical distribution and epidemiological correlates of infection in this large country are still poorly defined. To estimate the seroprevalence of, and risk factors for, KSHV infection in Brazil, a multi-center study was conducted among 3,493 first-time voluntary unpaid blood donors from Salvador, Sao Paulo and Manaus. Antibodies against KSHV were detected using a whole-virus ELISA validated prior to the serosurvey. Antibodies against the latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) were detected by immuno-fluorescence assay (IFA) among ELISA-positive sera and a random sample of ELISA-negative sera. Overall, seroprevalence of KSHV by whole-virus ELISA was 21.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 20-23.4%) in men and 31.7% (95% CI: 29-34.3%) in women (P

Citation

Journal of Medical Virology (2008) 80 (7) pp. 1202-1210 [DOI:10.1002/jmv.21188].

Prevalence of, and risk factors for Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpes virus infection among blood donors in Brazil: A multi-center serosurvey.

Published 1 January 2008