Title: Prevalence and risk factors for betaherpesvirus DNAemia in infants aged between 3 weeks and 2 years of age, admitted to a large referral hospital in sub-Saharan Africa John Tembo1,2,3*, Mwila Kabwe1,2, Lophina Chilukutu1,2, Moses Chilufya1,2, Nyaxewo Mwaanza4, Chishala Chabala4, Alimuddin Zumla1,5,6, Matthew Bates1,2,5* 1. UNZA-UCLMS Research & Training Programme (www.unza-uclms.org), University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia 2. HerpeZ (www.herpez.org), University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia 3. Institute for Infectious Diseases, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, China 4. Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, University Teaching Hospital, Zambia 5. Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, UK 6. NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University College London Hospitals, London, United Kingdom *Authors contributed equally 40-word summary: Study describing the prevalence of betaherpesvirus DNAemia among a broad cross- section of hospitalized African infants aged 3 weeks to 2 years, showing independent associations between cytomegalovirus infection and HIV, being underweight and an admissions diagnosis of meningitis. Word Counts Abstract 246 Body Text: 2973 Corresponding Author: Dr Matthew Bates, Programme Director, UNZA-UCLMS Research & Training Programme, D-block Research Office, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia, Tel: +260974044708, email:
[email protected] Alternate corresponding author: John Tembo, HUST University, Wuhan, China. E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT Background: Betaherpesviruses are established causes of morbidity and mortality in immune suppressed patient groups but they have been little studied in sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of the HIV pandemic. In this region, primary infections with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) are endemic in infancy, but the clinical impact of these infections among pediatric inpatient groups is poorly characterized and assumptive, based largely on data from Western populations.