Martin J N
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
Adv Dent Res. 2011 Apr;23(1):76-8. doi: 10.1177/0022034511399913.
Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) was discovered in 1994 and is now known to be a necessary but not sufficient causative agent of Kaposi sarcoma. While KSHV is likely also the causative agent of primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman's disease, its causal role has been refuted in the case of multiple myeloma, sarcoidosis, prostate cancer, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The epidemiology of KSHV is both intriguing and challenging. Two epidemiologic findings are clear, but their explanation is unknown. The first is that KSHV is distributed disparately throughout the world, with the virus being common in the general population throughout Africa and the Middle East, but uncommon virtually everywhere else. The second is that even though the virus is uncommon in the general population in industrialized settings, it is disproportionately concentrated among homosexual men in these areas. KSHV has special importance to the dental profession because saliva is the body fluid that harbors it most commonly, although exactly in which ways saliva spreads the virus are not known.
卡波西肉瘤相关疱疹病毒（KSHV）于1994年被发现，目前已知它是卡波西肉瘤的必要但非充分致病因子。虽然KSHV可能也是原发性渗出性淋巴瘤和多中心Castleman病的致病因子，但其在多发性骨髓瘤、结节病、前列腺癌和肌萎缩侧索硬化症中的致病作用已被否定。KSHV的流行病学既引人入胜又具有挑战性。有两个流行病学发现很明确，但其解释尚不清楚。第一个是KSHV在世界各地分布不均，该病毒在非洲和中东的普通人群中很常见，但在其他几乎所有地方都不常见。第二个是，尽管该病毒在工业化地区的普通人群中不常见，但它在这些地区的同性恋男性中却不成比例地集中。KSHV对牙科行业具有特殊重要性，因为唾液是最常携带该病毒的体液，尽管唾液究竟以何种方式传播病毒尚不清楚。
