Serological and Molecular Evidence That Human Herpesvirus 8 Is Endemic among Amerindians in French Guiana

Mirdad Kazanji (1, 2) , Philippe Dussart (3) , Renan Duprez (2) , Patricia Tortevoye (2) , Jean-François Pouliquen (1) , Julie Vandekerkhove (3) , Pierre Couppié (4) , Jacques Morvan (3) , Antoine Talarmin (3) , Antoine Gessain (2)

1 Laboratoire de Rétrovirologie [Cayenne, Guyane française]
2 Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes
3 Laboratoire de virologie [Cayenne, Guyane française]
4 Centre Hospitalier Andrée Rosemon [Cayenne, Guyane Française]

We evaluated the presence of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection among groups of Amerindians in French Guiana. The overall prevalence of antibodies against lytic HHV-8 antigens was 23.0% (180/781), increasing from 18.4% in children <6 years old to approximately 30% in older persons (>45 years). Seroprevalence was higher in Amerindians living in remote localities than it was in those living in the coastal region. Analysis of a 725-base pair fragment of the K1 gene amplified from DNA from a Wayampi Amerindian showed that the virus belonged to molecular subtype E, which has hitherto been found in only a few Amerindians in Brazil and Ecuador.

Domains: Virology

Mirdad Kazanji, Philippe Dussart, Renan Duprez, Patricia Tortevoye, Jean-François Pouliquen, et al.. Serological and Molecular Evidence That Human Herpesvirus 8 Is Endemic among Amerindians in French Guiana. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2005, 192 (9), pp.1525-1529. ⟨10.1086/491744⟩. ⟨pasteur-03214519⟩