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Mother-to-child transmission of human herpesvirus-8 in South Africa

Dedicoat, Martin, Newton, R., Alkharsah, K. R., Sheldon, J., Szabados, I., Ndlovu, B., Page, T., Casabonne, D., Gilks, C.F., Cassol, S. A., Whitby, D. and Schulz, T. F. (2004) 'Mother-to-child transmission of human herpesvirus-8 in South Africa'. Journal of Infectious Disease, Vol 190, Issue 6, pp. 1068-1075.

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Abstract

To investigate transmission of human herpesvirus (HHV)-8,2546 mother-child pairs were recruited from rural clinics in South Africa and were tested for antibodies against lytic and latent HHV-8 antigens. The prevalence of antibodies in children increased with increasing maternal antibody titer (lytic, chi(1)(2) and 26 and P<.001; latent, &chi;(2)(1)=55, and P<.001). HHV-8 DNA was detectable in 145 of 978 maternal saliva samples (mean virus load, 488,450 copies/mL; range, 1550-660,000 copies/mL) and in 12 of 43 breast-milk samples (mean virus load, 5800 copies/mL; range, 1550-12,540 copies/mL). The prevalence of HHV-8 DNA in maternal saliva was unrelated to latent anti-HHV-8 antibody status but was higher in mothers with the highest titers of lytic antibodies than in other mothers (34% vs. 8%; P<.001). The prevalence of lytic anti-HHV-8 antibodies in children was 13% (70/528) if the mother did not have HHV-8 in saliva and was 29% (8/28) if the mother had a high HHV-8 load (>50,000 copies/mL) in saliva (odds ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-6.2). The presence of HHV-8 DNA in maternal saliva was unrelated to latent antibodies in children. Saliva could be a route of transmission of HHV-8 from person to person, although other routes cannot be ruled out.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: QW Microbiology and Immunology > Immunity by Type > QW 553 Maternally acquired immunity
QW Microbiology and Immunology > Antigens and Antibodies. Toxins and Antitoxins > QW 575 Antibodies
WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Infectious Viral Skin Diseases > WC 578 Herpes simplex
Digital Object Identifer (DOI): https://doi.org/10.1086/423326
Depositing User: Ms Julia Martin
Date Deposited: 27 Feb 2012 12:04
Last Modified: 07 Dec 2018 09:53
URI: https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/2179

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