Mayo Clinic Proceedings
Volume 77, Issue 9, 2002, Pages 905-909

Absence of Kaposi sarcoma among ethiopian immigrants to Israel despite high seroprevalence of human herpesvirus8 (Article)

Grossman Z. , Iscovich J. , Schwartz F. , Azizi E. , Klepfish A. , Schattner A. , Sarid R.*
  • a Central Virology Laboratory, PHL, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
  • b International Institute of Fertility, Selikoff Center for Environment Health and Human Development, Ranana, Israel
  • c Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
  • d Department of Dermatology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
  • e Hematology Institute and Department of Medicine, Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel
  • f Hematology Institute and Department of Medicine, Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel
  • g Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) seropositivity in Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel. Methods: A Western blot assay was used to determine the seroprevalence of HHV-8 in serum samples from 202 randomly selected human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative and 47 HIV-positive Ethiopian immigrants; samples were obtained on arrival of the immigrants in Israel. The Israel Cancer Registry provided comprehensive data on the occurrence of KS among Ethiopian immigrants and in the non-Ethiopian population of Israel. Results: A total of 39.1% and 57% of the HIV-negative and HIV-positive Ethiopians, respectively, were infected with HHV-8 (P<.03). However, none of the Ethiopiansexamined and none of the other HIV-negative Ethiopians among about 45,000 immigrants had KS. Moreover, only 1 (0.85%) of 118 Ethiopian patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) developed KS compared with 49 (12.5%) of 391 non-Ethiopian AIDS patients (P<;.001). Conclusion: Although HHV-8 infection is common in Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel, these patients almost never develop KS, in marked contrast to the strong association usually observed. The mechanism behind this population's unique protection requires further study i.e., © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rightsreserved.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

immigrant Human herpesvirus 8 virus infection Israel Human immunodeficiency virus infection human ethnic group Aged Adolescent male female cancer registry Article Ethiopia major clinical study Kaposi sarcoma adult seroprevalence Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0036729667&doi=10.4065%2f77.9.905&partnerID=40&md5=5b61cd2123709945c6d0b95185610685
DOI: 10.4065/77.9.905
ISSN: 00256196
Cited by: 28
Original Language: English