Incidence of human herpes virus 1-4 type in saliva of 245 human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients

Objective: To determine the incidence of human herpes virus (HHV) 1-4 type including herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) in the saliva of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -infected patients.

Methods: The incidence of salivary HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV and EBV from 245 HIV-seropositive individuals and control group was used to investigate by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) or nested PCR. The data was analyzed by SPSS 18.0 statistical software.

Results: In the 245 HIV-seropositive individuals, the detection rates of HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, EBV were 29.0%, 3.3%, 4.1%, 82.0%. In the control group, the detection rates of HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, EBV were 13.3%, 0, 0, 36.7%. Four HHVs were significantly more prevalent in the salivas of HIV-seropositive persons than those in the control group (P < 0.01). The detection rates of HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV and EBV DNA were no difference between the HIV-positive group with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and HIV-positive group without HAART (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of HHV infection in HIV-infected people in Yunnan. The most common virus are EBV, followed by HSV-1, but VZV and HSV-2 are rarely detected. HHV co-infection is also observed.