Abstract

BACKGROUND Patients with beta thalassemia suffer from increased susceptibility to infections and putridity plays a major role in the patient's morbidity and mortality. The risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infection is well known in these patients. However, there is dearth of information about the seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection in patients with beta thalassemia in literature. This study analyzes the prevalence of anti-HSV1, 2 IgG antibodies in patients with beta thalassemia in a major tertiary care hospital located in Yazd,Iran. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this case control study, we undertook a serological study of HSV1,2 IgG antibodies among 45 patients with beta thalassemia and 45 healthy individuals as control group by ELISA method. A p.value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS.20. RESULTS The prevalence of HSV 1,2 IgG antibodies were estimated 88.8% among patients with beta thalassemia and 77.7% in control group. Regarding p.value=0.64, it showed no significant difference in these two groups. CONCLUSION Although infectious diseases still represent a major challenge in patients with beta thalassemia, HSV past infection rate was not increased in these patients in our study. More studies are required to clarify this matter.