Molecular Prevalence of HSV1/2 from HIV-1 Positive and HIV-1 Negative sera collected from North-West and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces

Abstract

Background: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a highly infectious virus that is found almost everywhere. It belongs to the alphaherpesvirinae sub-family which is further classified into two specie (Human alphaherpesvirus type 1 and Human alphaherpesvirus type 2). These herpetic viruses are highly pervasive and can be transmitted unconsciously from persons to persons sexually or through contact. Most sexually transmitted herpes infection are caused by type 2 herpes while HSV-1 is acquired through oral transmission. A strong synergistic interaction between HSV and HIV may speed up the progression of HIV and increase its infectiousness which may heighten sexual transmission of HIV and increase morbidity and mortality rate. The high prevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus in Africa (20-80% in women, 10-50% in men) and (49.7% in women, 50.3% in men) for HSV-2 and HSV-1 respectively makes it a pertinent problem as there is no active vaccine against it. Aim and Objective: To determine the molecular prevalence of herpes simplex virus in sera collected from HIV positive and HIV negative patients from the North-West and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces and to check for an association between these herpetic viruses and human immunodeficiency virus. Methods: A total number of forty-four sera samples were donated randomly from the two provinces. Twenty (20) from North-West and twenty-four (24) from KwaZulu-Natal. The samples were screened for both HSV and HIV using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits and characterized using polymerase chain reaction and four samples were sequenced using both Sanger and Next generation sequencing (NGS) methods. Further analysis was also done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 25 to check for an association between HSV and HIV Results: From the forty-four samples, thirty-six (81.8%) were positive for HIV-1 while thirty-four (77.3%) were positive for HSV when screened with ELISA kits. The samples were also confirmed with polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using type specific primers, and the result showed four (9.1%) out of the samples to be specific for HSV-1 while thirty (68.2%) were specific for HSV-2. Data analysis done on SPSS to check for a relationship between herpes simplex virus and human immunodeficiency virus showed that a strong association between HSV-2 and HIV-1 existed with a statistical significant P value (0.000*), X² (1) = 20.952, P <0.05. Conclusion The findings from this study revealed high HSV/HIV-1 co-infections suggesting that HSV plays a significant role in the transmission of HIV. It also showed that as Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 increases in the study population, the rate of HIV-1 acquisition also increased.