Correspondence

Increasing Probability of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HHV-8 with Increasing Maternal Antibody Titer for HHV-8

N Engl J Med 1999; 340:1923June 17, 1999

Article

To the Editor:

We reported previously on mother-to-child transmission of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) in South Africa.1 Stored serum samples obtained from 107 women (60 were black, 24 white, 5 Asian, and 18 other) and 112 of their children between the ages of 6 months and 14 years (61 girls, 50 boys, and 1 unknown) were tested for HHV-8: 42 percent (8 of 19) of the children whose mothers were seropositive for HHV-8 were themselves seropositive, whereas only 1 percent (1 of 93) of the children whose mothers were seronegative for HHV-8 were seropositive.1 To assess the effect of maternal titer of antibody to HHV-8 on mother-to-child transmission, the serum samples from the mothers who were HHV-8–seropositive were retested in a blinded fashion at doubling dilutions starting at 1:100, with the use of an immunofluorescence assay described elsewhere.2 The proportion of children who were seropositive for HHV-8 increased in relation to their mothers' titer of HHV-8 antibody from 1 percent if the mother's titer was less than 1:100 to 50 percent if the mother's titer was 1:25,600 or greater (P for trend <0.001) (Table 1Table 1Relation between the Titer of Antibody against HHV-8 in Mothers and the Proportion of Their Children Who Are Seropositive for HHV-8.). A high antibody titer probably indicates a large number of circulating cells infected with HHV-8 (i.e., a high viral load). These results therefore suggest that a high viral load of HHV-8 may increase the likelihood of transmission of the virus from mothers to their children.

Freddy Sitas, D.Phil.
South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa

Robert Newton, M.B., B.S., D.Phil.
University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6HE, United Kingdom

Chris Boshoff, M.R.C.P., Ph.D.
University College London, London W1P 6BT, United Kingdom

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   Sitas F, Carrara H, Beral V, et al. Antibodies against human herpesvirus 8 in black South African patients with cancer. N Engl J Med 1999;340:1863-1871
   Full Text | Web of Science | Medline

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