PARV4 Genotype 3 in Infants, Ghana | CDC EID

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 7–July 2010

Volume 16, Number 7–July 2010
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Novel Human Parvovirus 4 Genotype 3 in Infants, Ghana
Marcus Panning,1 Robin Kobbe, Silke Vollbach, Jan Felix Drexler, Samuel Adjei, Ohene Adjei, Christian Drosten, Jürgen May, and Anna Maria Eis-Hübinger
Author affiliations: Institute of Virology, Bonn, Germany (M. Panning, S. Vollbach, J.F. Drexler, C. Drosten, A.M. Eis-Hübinger); Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany (R. Kobbe, J. May); Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service, Agona, Ghana (S. Adjei); and Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kumasi, Ghana (O. Adjei)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
Human parvovirus 4 has been considered to be transmitted only parenterally. However, after novel genotype 3 of parvovirus 4 was found in 2 patients with no parenteral risks, we tested infants in Ghana. A viremia rate of 8.6% over 2 years indicates that this infection is common in children in Africa.
In 2005, a novel human parvovirus, termed parvovirus 4 (PARV4), was identified in a plasma sample from a patient with symptoms resembling those of acute HIV infection (1). In 2006, a related virus was discovered in plasma pools for manufacture of plasma-derived medical products; the virus was initially called PARV5 and is now called PARV4 genotype 2 (2). Phylogenetic analysis suggested that PARV4 formed a separate novel genus within the subfamily Parvovirinae.

Initial PCR analyses of blood and autopsy specimens from adults suggested that PARV4 infection was restricted to persons at risk for parenteral infection with viruses such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) or HIV (e.g., injection drug users) (3–5). A recent serologic study identified high frequencies of immunoglobulin G against PARV4 in injection drug users who were co-infected with HCV and HIV and in persons with hemophilia who had been exposed to non–virus-inactivated clotting factor concentrates (6). Absence of serologic reactivity in adults without parenteral risk factors supported an association between PARV4 and blood-borne transmission.

Only limited genetic diversity has been found among PARV4 sequences, particularly among genotype 1 viruses, suggesting recent emergence and spread among parenterally exposed persons in Europe and the United States (5). Because persons with PARV4 genotype 1 DNA in their tissues have been substantially younger than those with genotype 2, a recent shift in prevalence of the 2 genotypes has been suggested; genotype 1 currently predominates (4). An even more pronounced shift was found for parvovirus B19 in that nearly complete cessation of genotype 2 and replacement by genotype 1 occurred in the 1960s in western countries (7). Furthermore, molecular clock analysis indicated that B19 genotype 3, which is endemic to West Africa and rarely detected outside Africa, may be more ancient than genotypes 1 and 2 (8).

Recently, a novel PARV4 variant, termed genotype 3, was identified in tissue samples of 2 adults from Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (9). Each patient had signs of AIDS but was antibody negative for HCV and had no evidence of parenteral exposure. The absence of parenteral risks raises the possibility of alternative routes of transmission that might affect the general, nonparenterally exposed, population (9). Proving nonparenteral transmission would suggest more widespread distribution of PARV4 in humans than previously expected and occurrence of virus in additional population subsets. We therefore studied the occurrence of PARV4 in infants in Ghana.


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Suggested Citation for this Article
Panning M, Kobbe R, Vollbach S, Drexler JF, Adjei S, Adjei O, et al. Novel human parvovirus 4 genotype 3 in infants, Ghana. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Jul [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/7/1143.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1607.100025