New Viral Footprints in Kaposi's Sarcoma

Abstract

Humans are infected with at least eight different herpesviruses, if 6A and 6B are counted as distinct. The discovery by Chang et al.¹ of number 9 (to be known, perversely, as human herpesvirus 8 [HHV-8]) should have caused barely a ripple. That it stirred considerable excitement is due to two factors. First, the footprints of the virus were discovered by the application of a novel technique.² Second, the footprints were found in cells affected by Kaposi's sarcoma, long thought to be caused by an infectious agent transmitted by sexual contact or tissue transplantation. As the articles by Moore and Chang . . .