@article{3162667,
    title = "Seroprevalence of HHV-6 and HHV-8 among blood donors in Greece",
    author = "Politou, Marianna and Koutras, Dimitrios and Kaparos, Georgios and and Valsami, Serena and Pittaras, Theodoros and Logothetis, Emmanouil and and Panayiotakopoulos, George and Kouskouni, Evangelia",
    journal = "Virology Journal",
    year = "2014",
    volume = "11",
    publisher = "BMC",
    issn = "1743-422X",
    doi = "10.1186/1743-422X-11-153",
    keywords = "HHV-6 seroprevalence; HHV-8 seroprevalence; Blood donors; Greece",
    abstract = "Background: Herpes viruses infection transmitted through healthy but
infected blood donors pose a danger to herpes-naive immunocompromised
recipients. The risk of transfusion-related HHV-8 transmission is
different in endemic and not endemic areas. HHV-6 and HHV-8
seroprevalence and viral load among blood donors have been reported from
different countries. The aim of our study was to assess the
seroprevalence of HHV-8 and HHV-6 in volunteer blood donors from Greece
which is unknown.
Findings: Serum samples from 179 healthy blood donors were tested for
the presence of IgG antibodies against HHV-6 and HHV-8 with ELISA. None
of the 179 donors of Greek origin tested was positive for HHV-8. HHV-6
seropositivity was assessed in 160 blood donors’ samples and was found
to be 78.75% ( 126/160). The HHV-6 seroprevalence did not differ either
between males and females or among different decade age groups.
Conclusions: The fact, that no blood donor was positive for HHV-8 IgG
antibodies indicates that the risk for transfusion related HHV-8
transmission in Greece, if any, is negligible and does not warrant broad
testing for HHV-8. Definitely further studies are needed, in order to
clarify the potential risk of HHV-6 transmission."
}