| |
Seroepidemiology of Human Herpesvirus 8 among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men C. DIAMOND1*, H. THIEDE2, T. PERDUE2, L. COREY3, and THE SEATTLE YOUNG MEN’S SURVEY TEAM2.
1Univ. of California Irvine Med. Ctr., Orange, CA; 2Publ. Hlth.—Seattle and King County, WA; and 3Univ. of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Res. Ctr, Seattle Background: We studied human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8) prevalence and risk factors among participants in the Young Men's Survey (YMS) in King County, Washington.
Methods: YMS was a multi-site, cross-sectional HIV prevalence and behavioral risk survey of men aged 15-22 who attended public venues where men who have sex with men (MSM) congregated. Blood obtained for HIV testing was tested for HHV-8 using an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) at a 1:40 dilution.
Results: Of 494 men, 74% were MSM and 26% reported sex with women only (MSW). HHV-8 prevalence was 6% among MSM and 5% among MSW. HHV-8-infected MSM were more likely than uninfected MSM to have a prior history of sexually transmitted disease (STD) (30% vs. 12%, p= .03), a greater median number of lifetime male sex partners (40 vs. 7, p< .001), use of injected amphetamines (35% vs. 8%, p< .001), unprotected anal sex with men in the past 6 months (74% vs. 38%, p< .01), and an HIV-infected partner in the past 6 months (26% vs. 7%, p< .01). HHV-8 seropositives were also more likely to be seropositive for herpes simplex virus 2 (13% vs. 2%, p= .03) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) (83% vs. 46%, p< .01). In multivariate analysis, unprotected anal sex with a man in the past 6 months (OR 3.97, CI 1.46-10.77), CMV infection (OR 5.24, CI 1.67-16.44), and amphetamine injection (OR 6.70, CI 2.40 -18.69) were associated with HHV-8 seropositivity in MSM.
Conclusions: We found an HHV-8 seroprevalence of 6% among these young MSM, which was similar to the HHV-8 seroprevalence in young MSW, but lower than seroprevalence estimates in earlier studies of older MSM. The association between HHV-8 infection and unprotected anal sex supports previous findings that HHV-8 is sexually transmitted in MSM; CMV infection and amphetamine injection likely are markers for unsafe sexual practices. While only 2 MSM in our study were co-infected with HIV and HHV-8, their presence suggests that Kaposi’s sarcoma may continue to be a problem among MSM with AIDS.
Key Words: hiv, human herpes virus-8, kaposi's sarcoma
|
