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Next-generation sequencing has critical applications in virus discovery, diagnostics, and environmental surveillance. We used metagenomic sequence libraries for retrospective screening of plasma samples for the recently discovered human hepegivirus 1 (HHpgV-1). From a cohort of 150 hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive case-patients, we identified 2 persons with HHpgV-1 viremia and a high frequency of human pegivirus (HPgV) viremia (14%). Detection of HHpgV-1 and HPgV was concordant with parallel PCR-based screening using conserved primers matching groups 1 (HPgV) and 2 (HHPgV-1) nonstructural 3 region sequences. PCR identified 1 HHPgV-1-positive person with viremia from a group of 195 persons with hemophilia who had been exposed to nonvirally inactivated factor VII/IX; 18 (9%) were HPgV-positive. Relative to HCV and HPgV, active infections with HHpgV-1 were infrequently detected in blood, even in groups that had substantial parenteral exposure. Our findings are consistent with lower transmissibility or higher rates of virus clearance for HHpgV-1 than for other bloodborne human flaviviruses.

Original publication

DOI

10.3201/eid2204.151812

Type

Journal article

Journal

Emerg Infect Dis

Publication Date

04/2016

Volume

22

Pages

671 - 678

Keywords

Flaviviridae, HCV, HHpgV-1, Hepacivirus, Hepegivirus, Pegivirus, bloodborne pathogens, hemophilia, parenteral, persons who inject drugs, sexually transmitted disease, transfusion, virus persistence, viruses, Coinfection, Computational Biology, Factor VII, Flaviviridae, Flaviviridae Infections, Hemophilia A, Hepacivirus, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Phylogeny, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Retrospective Studies, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Viremia