Salivary shedding of HHV-8 in people infected or not by human immunodeficiency virus 1.

Background: Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), the main agent involved in the etiopathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is primarily transmitted through sexual contact. The potential of saliva as a source of HHV-8 transmission remains unclear. The purpose of this work was to determine the frequency of HHV-8 detection in saliva of HIV-infected individuals and their family contacts.

Methods: The study group comprised 210 individuals. Group 1: 35 HIV-infected patients; group 2: 35 non-HIV individuals; group 3: two siblings for each patient from group 1; group 4: two siblings for each individual from group 2. Each participant had non-stimulated whole saliva collected and DNA was extracted. HHV-8-DNA amplification from ORF-26 was performed using a nested PCR protocol.

Results: HHV-8 DNA was detected in saliva from 14/35 (40%) HIV-infected individuals and 4/35 (11.4%) non-HIV-infected individuals (OR = 5.16, CI [1.49-17.88], P = 0.006). It was also possible to amplify HHV-8 DNA in 11/70 (15.7%) relatives of HIV-infected participants and 4/70 (5.71%) relatives of non-HIV-infected individuals(P = 0.041). Among the 14 group 1 patients with HHV-8 DNA detected in saliva, eight (57.1%) had a household member in whom HHV-8 DNA was also amplified (OR = 8, CI [1.58-40.29] P = 0.007).

Conclusions: HHV-8 DNA is frequently found in saliva. HIV-infected individuals showed a higher frequency of detection of HHV-8 than healthy controls. HHV-8 DNA was significantly amplified in saliva of household members of HIV/HHV-8 co-infected individuals.