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Corey Casper, MD, MPH; Amalia S. Meier, PhD; Anna Wald, MD, MPH; Rhoda Ashley Morrow, PhD; Lawrence Corey, MD; Anna-Barbara Moscicki, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:937-942.

Objective  Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection is common among children in areas where Kaposi sarcoma is endemic. Human herpesvirus 8 is uncommon in children but prevalent in adults at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States, including men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who engage in high-risk sexual behavior. We examined the prevalence and predictors of HHV-8 infection among adolescents with or at high risk for acquiring HIV infection.

Design  Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting  National study of HIV infection among adolescents in primary care.

Participants  A total of 537 young adults practicing high-risk sexual behavior, of which 403 were women and 134 were men; among the 134 men, 75% were MSM.

Interventions  Detailed questionnaires and testing for serum antibodies to HHV-8.

Outcome Measure  Detection of serum antibodies to HHV-8.

Results  Sixty (11.2%) of 537 young adults were HHV-8 seropositive, including 20 MSM (19.6%), 2 male heterosexuals (6.5%), and 27 female heterosexuals (8.2%). The prevalence of HHV-8 in HIV-positive MSM (17/74 [23.0%]) was twice as high as that in HIV-negative MSM (3/28 [10.7%]) (P = .18), but no characteristic predicted HHV-8 infection among MSM. In multivariate analysis, history of gonorrhea (odds ratio [OR], 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-5.7; P<.01), history of having sex with women (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.1-5.3; P = .03), and African American race (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.1-10.0; P = .03) were associated with HHV-8 infection among women.

Conclusions  Human herpesvirus 8 is common among US adolescents practicing high-risk sexual behaviors. Sexual identity, race, and sexual behavior may influence the risk of infection with HHV-8 in women.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Medicine (Drs Casper, Wald, and Corey), Laboratory Medicine (Drs Meier, Morrow, and Corey), and Epidemiology (Dr Wald), University of Washington, Seattle; the Programs in Infectious Diseases (Drs Casper, Wald, and Corey) and Biostatistics (Dr Meier), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle; and Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco (Dr Moscicki).