Prevalence of Human Herpesvirus 8 Antibodies in Young Adults in Denmark (1976–1977)

Extract

Serologic studies (1–5) indicate that an epidemic of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) or Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus, the viral etiologic agent of KS, occurred among homosexual men in the United States and in Europe concurrently with the human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV) epidemic in the early 1980s. However, studies from the United States (1,6) suggest that HHV8 possibly had become prevalent in some gay communities before the HIV epidemic. Thus, in the first decade of the U.S. HIV epidemic, the risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related KS in homosexual men was higher in HIV epicenters, such as New York, than elsewhere (6). Accordingly, the risk among homosexual men of being or becoming HHV8 infected from 1982 through 1990 was higher in New York than in Washington, DC (1).

Little is known about the epidemiology of HHV8 in Europe before the HIV epidemic. Although studies (4,7) indicate that HHV8 was disseminated to the European gay communities from the United States or from KS-endemic regions, such as Africa, in conjunction with the introduction of HIV, it is not known whether HHV8 was already prevalent in the gay communities before the HIV epidemic. To study the prevalence of HHV8 infection before the HIV epidemic, we examined sera for HHV8 antibodies in individuals attending an outpatient clinic for a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in Copenhagen, Denmark, from March 1976 through February 1977.