KI and WU Polyomaviruses in Children, France

KI and WU Polyomaviruses in Children, Franc

Human Bocavirus in French Children

Human bocavirus (HBoV), a new member of the genus Bocavirus in the family Parvoviridae, has been recently associated with respiratory tract infections. We report the epidemiologic and clinical features observed from a 1-year retrospective study of HBoV infection in young children hospitalized with a respiratory tract infection

No evidence for XMRV association in pediatric idiopathic diseases in France

Retroviruses have been linked to a variety of diseases such as neoplastic and immunodeficiency disorders and neurologic and respiratory diseases. Recently, a novel infectious human retrovirus, the xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), has been identified in cohorts of patients with either a familial type of prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome. The apparent unrelatedness of these diseases raised the question of the potential involvement of XMRV in other diseases

CD4+ T cells spontaneously producing human immunodeficiency virus type I in breast milk from women with or without antiretroviral drugs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) through breast-feeding may involve both cell-free and cell-associated virus. This latter viral reservoir remains, however, to be fully explored. CD4⁺T cell-associated virus production in breast milk was therefore investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The <it>ex vivo </it>spontaneous production of HIV-1 antigen and HIV-1 RNA by CD4⁺T cells was measured in paired blood and breast milk samples from 15 HIV-1 infected women treated or not with antiretroviral drugs. Spontaneous antigen secreting cells (HIV-1-AgSCs) from breast milk and blood were enumerated by an ELISpot assay, and cell-associated HIV-1 RNA was quantified by real-time PCR in supernatants of CD4⁺T cells cultured for 18 hours without addition of polyclonal activators.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the CD4⁺T cells present in breast milk, memory cells expressing high levels of cell-surface activation markers were predominant. Spontaneous HIV-1-AgSCs were detected and enumerated in the breast milk of all 15 women, with a median number of 13.0 and 9.5 HIV-1- AgSCs/106 CD4⁺T cells in aviremic (n = 7) and viremic (n = 8) women, respectively. Cell- associated HIV-1 RNA was detected in cell-free supernatants from 4/7 aviremic and 5/8 viremic individuals at median levels of 190 and 245 copies/ml, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Activated CD4⁺T cells producing HIV-1 are detected in the breast milk of untreated individuals as well as those receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy. This finding strongly suggests that HIV-1 replication occurs in latently infected CD4⁺T cells that, upon spontaneous activation, revert to productively infected cells. These cells might be responsible for a residual breast milk transmission despite maternal highly active antiretroviral therapy.</p

Merkel Cell Polyomavirus in Cutaneous Swabs

To assess the usefulness of using cutaneous swabs to detect Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) DNA, we analyzed swabs from persons with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), others with skin diseases, and healthy volunteers. MCPyV was detected in at least 1 sample from virtually all participants. Viral loads were higher in samples from patients with MCC

Le virus Usutu : la menace fantôme

International audienc

Human Skin Microbiota: High Diversity of DNA Viruses Identified on the Human Skin by High Throughput Sequencing

The human skin is a complex ecosystem that hosts a heterogeneous flora. Until recently, the diversity of the cutaneous microbiota was mainly investigated for bacteria through culture based assays subsequently confirmed by molecular techniques. There are now many evidences that viruses represent a significant part of the cutaneous flora as demonstrated by the asymptomatic carriage of beta and gamma-human papillomaviruses on the healthy skin. Furthermore, it has been recently suggested that some representatives of the Polyomavirus genus might share a similar feature. In the present study, the cutaneous virome of the surface of the normal-appearing skin from five healthy individuals and one patient with Merkel cell carcinoma was investigated through a high throughput metagenomic sequencing approach in an attempt to provide a thorough description of the cutaneous flora, with a particular focus on its viral component. The results emphasize the high diversity of the viral cutaneous flora with multiple polyomaviruses, papillomaviruses and circoviruses being detected on normal-appearing skin. Moreover, this approach resulted in the identification of new Papillomavirus and Circovirus genomes and confirmed a very low level of genetic diversity within human polyomavirus species. Although viruses are generally considered as pathogen agents, our findings support the existence of a complex viral flora present at the surface of healthy-appearing human skin in various individuals. The dynamics and anatomical variations of this skin virome and its variations according to pathological conditions remain to be further studied. The potential involvement of these viruses, alone or in combination, in skin proliferative disorders and oncogenesis is another crucial issue to be elucidated

Multiplex detection of antibodies to Chikungunya, O'nyong-nyong, Zika, Dengue, West Nile and Usutu viruses in diverse non-human primate species from Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

BACKGROUND: Epidemic arbovirus transmission occurs among humans by mosquito bites and the sylvatic transmission cycles involving non-human primates (NHPs) still exists. However, limited data are available on the extent in NHPs infections and their role. In this study, we have developed and validated a high-throughput serological screening tool to study the circulation of multiple arboviruses that represent a significant threat to human health, in NHPs in Central Africa. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Recombinant proteins NS1, envelope domain-3 (DIII) for the dengue (DENV), yellow fever (YFV), usutu (USUV), west nile (WNV) and zika (ZIKV) and envelope 2 for the chikungunya (CHIKV) and o'nyong-nyong (ONNV) were coupled to Luminex beads to detect IgG directed against these viruses. Evaluation of test performance was made using 161 human sera of known arboviral status (66 negative and 95 positive). The sensitivity and specificity of each antigen were determined by statistical methods and ROC curves (except for ONNV and USUV). All NS1 antigens (except NS1-YFV), CHIKV-E2 and WNV-DIII had sensitivities and specificities > 95%. For the other DIII antigens, the sensitivity was low, limiting the interest of their use for seroprevalence studies. Few simultaneous reactions were observed between the CHIKV+ samples and the NS1 antigens to the non-CHIKV arboviruses. On the other hand, the DENV+ samples crossed-reacted with NS1 of all the DENV serotypes (1 to 4), as well as with ZIKV, USUV and to a lesser extent with YFV. A total of 3,518 samples of 29 species of NHPs from Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were tested against NS1 (except YFV), E2 (CHIKV/ONNV) and DIII (WNV) antigens. In monkeys (n = 2,100), the global prevalence varied between 2 and 5% for the ten antigens tested. When we stratified by monkey's biotope, the arboreal species showed the highest reactivity. In monkeys from Cameroon, the highest IgG prevalence were observed against ONNV-E2 and DENV2-NS1 with 3.95% and 3.40% respectively and in DRC, ONNV-E2 (6.63%) and WNV-NS1 (4.42%). Overall prevalence was low in apes (n = 1,418): ranging from 0% for USUV-NS1 to 2.6% for CHIKV-E2. However, a very large disparity was observed among collection site and ape species, e.g. 18% (9/40) and 8.2% (4/49) of gorillas were reactive with CHIKV-E2 or WNV-NS1, respectively in two different sites in Cameroon. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have developed a serological assay based on Luminex technology, with high specificity and sensitivity for simultaneous detection of antibodies to 10 antigens from 6 different arboviruses. This is the first study that evaluated on a large scale the presence of antibodies to arboviruses in NHPs to evaluate their role in sylvatic cycles. The overall low prevalence (<5%) in more than 3,500 NHPs samples from Cameroon and the DRC does not allow us to affirm that NHP are reservoirs, but rather, intermediate hosts of these viruses