Human Herpes Virus 8 Special Collection from the General Leukocyte/Plasma Repository (HHV8/GLPR)

Objectives

This special collection was established to investigate the prevalence and demographic correlates of Human Herpes Virus-8 (HHV-8) in blood donors.

Background

The Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS I) collected a large inventory of blood specimens from donors. Some of the specimens were used in studies of particular subpopulations of these donors as the scientific need arose. From this repository, a special collection of anonymized samples seronegative for all routine screening assays was assembled to investigate the prevalence and demographic correlates of HHV-8 in blood donors.

Subjects

The GLPR was collected in 1994 and 1995 and consisted of aliquots of plasma, and whole blood frozen with and without DMSO obtained from 147,915 blood donations. A subset of 1,000 donations samples was selected from the GLPR. An additional 40 samples from HHV-8 positive Karposi Sarcoma patients was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Design

Panels consisting of the same 1,000 specimens from representative donors in the GLPR were selected, anonymized, subaliquoted and coded. Some panels also contain anonymized aliquots from an additional 40 samples collected from HHV-8 positive Karposi Sarcoma patients. Panels consist of plasma and frozen whole blood.

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