We have previously reported a study of this cohort in which we described HHV-8 prevalence and incidence, using an immunoflourescence antibody (IFA) assay for latent antigens. Follow-up was discontinued on most HIV-negative subjects in the early 1990s, although some were retained as study control subjects. Surviving HIV-infected subjects continued in follow-up study throughout the 1990s. Blood samples were sought at annual visits, except that Washington participants were not seen in 1983. Details of enrollment, follow-up, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing have been presented elsewhere. In 1982, we began a longitudinal study of homosexual men in New York and Washington, DC, in response to the emerging AIDS epidemic. To this end, we studied samples collected annually for almost 2 decades from a cohort of homosexual men, a population in which the prevalence of HHV-8 antibodies is high Methods We examined consistency within and between latent and lytic HHV-8 antibody assays and how antibody levels changed over time. Even among persons with Kaposi sarcoma who have PCR-positive tumors, virus levels in blood and saliva are modest, and only one-half or fewer are found to be viremic Furthermore, in serially followed subjects, PCR-detected viremia may be found only intermittently. By use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), most investigators find <10% of seropositive, asymptomatic Europeans and Americans to be viremic, and, when detected, the virus is usually present in minute amounts. Culturing HHV-8 has proven to be difficult. In the absence of a reference standard, establishing the true infection status in asymptomatic persons is problematic.
Antibody reactivity assay serial#
Similarly, serial samples from some studies, but not all, have yielded inconsistent serologic results in individuals thought to be positive In interlaboratory comparisons, using standard panels of samples from general populations in America and Europe, all laboratories generally detected antibodies in the patients with Kaposi sarcoma, but there was much less agreement about results in asymptomatic persons. Detection of asymptomatic HHV-8 infection has been much more problematic. Soon after discovery, it was found that almost all patients with Kaposi sarcoma have HHV-8 antibodies, usually with relatively high titers. Despite remarkable advances in molecular studies, much remains unclear about its epidemiology. Since the discovery of human herpesvirus–8 (HHV-8, also called the Kaposi sarcoma–associated herpesvirus) in Kaposi sarcoma tissue, this virus has been the subject of intense investigation.
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