Epidemiology
The mechanisms by which the virus is contracted are not well understood. Healthy individuals can be infected with the virus and show no signs or symptoms, due to the immune system's ability to keep the infection in check. Infection is of particular concern to the immunosuppressed. Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, AIDS patients and organ transplant patients are all at a high risk of showing signs of infection.
Infection with this virus is thought to be lifelong, but a healthy immune system will keep the virus in check. Many people infected with KSHV will never show any symptoms. Kaposi's sarcoma occurs when someone who has been infected with KSHV becomes immunocompromised due to AIDS, medical treatment or very rarely aging. Since persons infected with KSHV will asymptomatically shed the virus, caution should be used by sex partners in having unprotected sex and activities where saliva might be shared during sexual activity. Prudent advice is to use commercial lubricants when needed and avoid deep kissing with partners with KSHV infection or whose status is unknown. Blood tests to detect infection exist, but they are largely restricted to research universities, since biomedical companies have not found it economical to develop these tests.
Read more about this topic: Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus