Although KSHV epidemiologic studies have been performed on many high-risk populations by us and other investigators, scarce information is available for KSHV infection in blood donor populations and different geographic regions in the United States. We are performing a large-scale epidemiologic studies that involved three major metropolitan areas in Texas to examine the prevalence of KSHV infection in blood donors, and the demographic characteristics and molecular epidemiology of KSHV-seropositive donors. Preliminary results indicate that a substantial number of blood donors from south Texas are KSHV-seropositive, that current blood donor screening methods are insufficient to exclude such donors, and that KSHV infection rate is relatively higher in south Texas than other regions of the United States. Further molecular epidemiologic studies demonstrated that Kaposi's sarcoma patients in south Texas have distinguished pattern of KSHV genotype distribution. Together, these data suggest that the epidemiology of KSHV in south Texas is different from other regions of the United States.
We have developed KVNAtyping technique (see above), which can be used to track individual KSHV isolates. This genotyping technique is useful for KSHV molecular epidemiology studies, particularly person-to-person transmission studies. Future studies will use this technique to examine the risk factors for KSHV maternal and homosexual transmission.