Increased seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 in patients with hematological disorders

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) has been consistently linked to Kaposi's sarcoma and many hematological diseases such as pleural effusion lymphoma, multicentric Castleman's disease, some lymphoproliferative diseases and posttransplantation bone marrow failure. However, whether patients with hematological disorders are at a higher risk of HHV8 infection has not been determined. In this study, indirect immunofluorescence was used to detect antibodies against lytic antigens of HHV8 in 265 patients with hematological disorders. Our data showed that 24.5% of patients (65/265) were seropositive for HHV8 IgG antibody, which was significantly higher than in our general population (p < 0.001). A significantly higher seropositive rate can be found in patients with lymphoma, leukemia, autoimmune cytopenias and myeloproliferative disorders, but not in patients with myeloma or aplastic anemia. No difference in the seropositive rate is associated with gender or age. We conclude that some patients with hematological disorders are at a higher risk of HHV8 infection.