PARV4 Infection in Sub-Saharan Africa | CDC EID

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Volume 16, Number 10–October 2010
Dispatch
Epidemiology of Human Parvovirus 4 Infection in Sub-Saharan Africa

Colin P. Sharp, Marion Vermeulen, Yacouba Nébié, Cyrille F. Djoko, Matthew LeBreton, Ubald Tamoufe, Anne W. Rimoin, Patrick K. Kayembe, Jean K. Carr, Annabelle Servant-Delmas, Syria Laperche, G.L. Abby Harrison, Oliver G. Pybus, Eric Delwart, Nathan D. Wolfe, Andrew Saville, Jean-Jacques Lefrère, and Peter Simmonds Comments to Author
Author affiliations: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland (C.P. Sharp, P. Simmonds); South African National Blood Service, Weltevreden Park, South Africa (M. Vermeulen, A. Saville); Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (Y. Nébié); Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, Yaounde, Cameroon, and San Francisco, California, USA (C.F. Djoko, M. LeBreton, U. Tamoufe, N.D. Wolfe); University of California School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA (A.W. Rimoin); Kinshasa School of Public Health, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (P.K. Kayembe); University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA (J.K. Carr); Institut National de la Transfusion Sanguine, Paris, France (A. Servant-Delmas, S. Laperche, J.-J. Lefrère); University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (G.L.A. Harrison, O.G. Pybus); Blood Systems Research Institute, San Francisco (E. Delwart); Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (N.D. Wolfe); and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Amiens, France (J.-J. Lefrère)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
Human parvovirus 4 infections are primarily associated with parenteral exposure in western countries. By ELISA, we demonstrate frequent seropositivity for antibody to parvovirus 4 viral protein 2 among adult populations throughout sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, 37%; Cameroon, 25%; Democratic Republic of the Congo, 35%; South Africa, 20%), which implies existence of alternative transmission routes.

Human parvovirus 4 (PARV4) was originally detected in plasma from a person at risk for infection with HIV through injection drug use (1). Genetic characterization of the complete genome sequence of the virus showed a distant relationship to existing genera within the family Parvoviridae, although viruses showing 61%–63% sequence similarity to PARV4 have recently been described in pigs and cows (2), together likely meriting the designation of a new genus within the family. Although infections with PARV4 are not followed by long-term viremia, viral DNA sequences can likely be detected in tissues lifelong after exposure (3–6), a form of latency or persistence shared with other human parvoviruses, e.g., human parvovirus B19, and adeno-associated viruses (6–8).

PARV4 differs strikingly from other parvoviruses in its epidemiologic associations and inferred routes of transmission. Initial studies of autopsy tissue demonstrated high DNA detection frequencies among injection drug users co-infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany (3–5,9). Infection frequencies were higher in those who were HIV seropositive but almost absent in low-risk, HCV-negative and HIV-negative control populations. Despite these new insights, studies based on autopsy or biopsy tissues are cumbersome and necessarily limited by sample availability and technical complexity.

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PARV4 Infection in Sub-Saharan Africa | CDC EID


Suggested Citation for this Article

Sharp CP, Vermeulen M, Nébié Y, Djoko CF, LeBreton M, Tamoufe U, et al. Epidemiology of human parvovirus 4 infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Oct [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/10/1605.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1610.101001

Comments to the Authors

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Address for correspondence: Peter Simmonds, Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh, Summerhall, Edinburgh EH9 1QH, UK; email: peter.simmonds@ed.ac.uk