A Model to Estimate Risk of Infection with Human Herpesvirus 8 Associated with Transfusion from Cross‐Sectional Data

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Abstract
Summary. In cross‐sectional studies of infectious diseases, the data typically consist of: age at the time of study, status (presence or absence) of infection, and a chronology of events possibly associated with the disease. Motivated by a study of how human herpesvirus 8 (HHV‐8) is transmitted among children with sickle cell anemia in Uganda, we have developed a flexible parametric approach for combining current‐status data with a history of blood transfusions. We model heterogeneity in transfusion‐associated risk by a child‐specific random effect. We present an extension of the model to accommodate the fact that there is no gold standard for HHV‐8 infection and infection status was assessed by a serological assay. The parameters are estimated via maximum likelihood. Finally, we present results from applying various parameterizations of the model to the Ugandan study.