Seroepidemiological study of herpes viruses in Nepal

The antibody positive rates among Nepalese, in a community, to herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) were studied. Immune adherence hemagglutination test (for VZV) and complement fixation test (for HSV and CMV) were used to measure the antibodies. An 80% positive rate of anti-HSV antibodies was found in early childhood (1-4 years) that further increased with age (96.1% positive in greater than 15 years age). Only 25% of children 1-4 years old showed antibodies to VZV but the number of positives increased rapidly with age (82.9% in greater than 15 years age). Antibody against CMV was positive in all the subjects studied.