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<ns4:p><ns4:bold>Background: </ns4:bold>The seroprevalence of human parvovirus-4 (PARV4) varies considerably by region. In sub-Saharan Africa, seroprevalence is high in the general population, but little is known about the transmission routes or the prevalence of coinfection with blood-borne viruses, HBV, HCV and HIV. </ns4:p><ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Methods: </ns4:bold>To further explore the characteristics of PARV4 in this setting, with a particular focus on the prevalence and significance of coinfection, we screened a cohort of 695 individuals recruited from Durban and Kimberley (South Africa) and Gaborone (Botswana) for PARV4 IgG and DNA, as well as documenting HIV, HBV and HCV status.<ns4:italic><ns4:bold> </ns4:bold></ns4:italic></ns4:p><ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Results: </ns4:bold>Within these cohorts, 69% of subjects were HIV-positive. We identified no cases of HCV by PCR, but 7.4% were positive for HBsAg. PARV4 IgG was positive in 42%; seroprevalence was higher in adults (69%) compared to children (21%) (p&lt;0.0001) and in HIV-positive (52%) compared to HIV-negative individuals (24%) (p&lt;0.0001), but there was no association with HBsAg status. We developed an on-line tool to allow visualization of coinfection data (<ns4:ext-link xmlns:ns3="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" ns3:href="https://purl.oclc.org/coinfection-viz">https://purl.oclc.org/coinfection-viz</ns4:ext-link>). We identified five subjects who were PCR-positive for PARV4 genotype-3. <ns4:italic>Ex vivo </ns4:italic>CD8+ T cell responses spanned the entire PARV4 proteome and we propose a novel HLA-B*57:03-restricted epitope within the NS protein. </ns4:p><ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Conclusions:</ns4:bold><ns4:italic> </ns4:italic>This characterisation of PARV4 infection provides enhanced insights into the epidemiology of infection and co-infection in African cohorts, and provides the foundations for planning further focused studies to elucidate transmission pathways, immune responses, and the clinical significance of this organism.</ns4:p>

Original publication

DOI

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.11135.1

Type

Journal article

Journal

Wellcome Open Research

Publisher

F1000 Research Ltd

Publication Date

07/04/2017

Volume

2

Pages

26 - 26