Low prevalence of human gammaherpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection among HIV-infected pregnant women in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Pregnant women coinfected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human gammaherpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) are at higher risk of Kaposi’s sarcoma development, increased viral load, and vertical transmission of these viruses. A total of 131 pregnant women infected with HIV were examined for antibodies against HHV-8 latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) and lytic antigens using immunofluorescence assays. The presence of HHV-8 DNA was confirmed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and nested PCR. Overall, 0.8% (1/131) of the patients contained antibodies to HHV-8 LANA and lytic antigens, and no HHV-8 DNA was detected. This study, including a small population of HIV-infected pregnant women in Brazil, indicates a low prevalence of HHV-8 seropositivity and absence of active infection in this group. However, a potential role of HHV-8 in the increased transmission and pathogenic activity of HIV in pregnant women is suggested. Attention should be given to the emergence of HHV-8 infection in this population group in order to avoid comorbidities and transmission of HIV.

Keywords:

• Coinfection
• human gamma herpesvirus 8
• human immunodeficiency virus
• pregnant women
• prevalence

Acknowledgments

The authors thank CAPES and FAPERJ for funding.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors regarding the publication of this paper.

Data availability

The datasets used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CAPES (Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement) [grant No. 1632788]; and FAPERJ (State of Rio de Janeiro Research Support Foundation) [grant No. E-26/203.0928/2016].