Virome-wide serological profiling reveals association of herpesviruses with obesity

Abstract The relationship between viral infection and obesity has been known for several decades but epidemiological data is limited to only a few viral pathogens. The association between obesity and a wide range of viruses was assessed using VirScan, a pan-viral serological profiling tool. Serum specimens from 457 Qatari adults (lean = 184; obese = 273) and 231 Qatari children (lean = 111; obese = 120) were analyzed by VirScan. Associations with obesity were determined by odds ratio (OR) and Fisher’s test (p values), and by multivariate regression analysis to adjust for age and gender. Although there was no association of viral infections with obesity in the pediatric population, a nominal association of obesity with seropositivity to members of the Herpesviridae family is observed for the adult population (OR = 1.5–3.3; p