Article Sidebar
Published:
Apr 11, 2023DOI:
10.4314/ahs.v23i1.52Keywords:
Article Details
While African Health Sciences has been freely accessible online there have been questions on whether it is Open Access or not. We wish to clearly state that indeed African Health Sciences is Open Access. There are key issues regarding Open Access needing clarification for avoidance of doubt:
- 1. Henceforth, papers in African Health Sciences will be published under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on https://creativecomons.org/)
- 2. The copyright owners or the authors grant the 3rd party (perpetually and in advance) the right to disseminate, reproduce, or use the research papers in part or in full, format/medium as long as:
- No substantive errors are introduced in the process
- Attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given
- The referencing details are not changed.
Should the papers be reproduced in part, this must be clearly stated.
- 3. The papers will be freely and universally accessible online in an easily readable format such as XML in at least one widely recognized open access repository such as PUBMED CENTRAL.
B. ABRIDGED LICENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND African Health Sciences
I submitted my manuscript to African Health Sciences and would like to affirm that:
1.0 I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
2.0 I guarantee, on behalf of self and co-authors:
- That the paper is original, and has not been published in any other peer-reviewed journal; nor is it under consideration by other journal (s). It does not infringe existing copyright or any other person’s rights
- That we are/I am the sole author(s) of the paper and with authority to enter into this agreement. My granting rights to African Health Sciences is not in breach of any other obligation
- That the paper contains nothing unlawful, or libelous. Nor anything that would constitute a breach of contract, confidence or commitment given to secrecy, if published
- That I/we have taken care to ensure the integrity of the article.
3.0 I and all co-authors, agree that the paper, if accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. (see https://creativecommons.org/)
Main Article Content
Human herpesvirus-8 infection in Tunisian adult acute leukemia patients
Abstract
Background: Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) has been linked to the development of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)and multiple other hematologic malignant disorders. However, the role of HHV-8 in acute leukemia patients is unknown.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of HHV-8 in Tunisian acute leukemia patients and in healthy blood donors.
Methods: An indirect immunofluorescence test was used to detect the presence of anti-HHV8 antibodies. Nested PCR was used for the detection of HHV-8 DNAemia in samples of plasma.
Results: The seroprevalence of HHV-8 was significantly higher in acute leukemia patients (21,4% ,15/70) than in healthy blood donors (7,1%, 5/70), (p= 0.02). Gender, type of disease, status of disease, prior blood transfusion, and outcome were not associated with HHV-8 seroprevalence. However, among acute leukemia patients, HHV-8 seroprevalence was statistically associated with older age > 40 years of age, (p=0.002). HHV-8 DNAemia was detected (1,4%) in only one patient of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and none of the healthy blood donors.
Conclusions: The seroprevalence of HHV-8 infection in Tunisian adult acute leukemia patients was three times as high compared to healthy blood donors, suggesting that patients with acute leukemia might be at increased risk of HHV-8 infection.
Keywords: Human herpesvirus 8; acute leukemia patients; blood donors; prevalence.
