Seroepidemiological Study of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 (HSV-2) Antibody in Shiraz, Iran

Background: Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Type 2 is a widespread human infectious agent responsible for persistent and latent infections. Objectives: To estimate the regional seroprevalence of anti HSV-2 antibody in Shiraz, Iran and to investigate the possible correlation of seropositivity with malignant changes in subjects’ Papanicolaou (Pap) tests. Methods: Data were collected in a cross-sectional study. A randomly selected population of 915 women, from nine primary health care centers according to regional population size, was recruited in this study. HSV type specific serum IgG was determined by an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay. Results: The overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 antibody was 258/915 (28.19%). Most of the seropositive cases (87.6%) were categorized in the group of less educated women. None of the individuals with positive serum antibody had malignant change in the uterine cells obtained with the help of Pap smear. Conclusion: HSV-2 infection is relatively common and largely unrecognized among our study participants. The HSV-2 antibody was more prevalent in the studied population in comparison with European and American women, and less prevalent than African women. Although HSV-2 is reported to be in correlation with cervical cancer, none of our studied subjects had any malignant change in cervical cells.