Evaluation of Viremia Frequencies of a Novel Human Pegivirus by Using Bioinformatic Screening and PCR.
Bonsall D., Gregory WF., Ip CLC., Donfield S., Iles J., Ansari MA., Piazza P., Trebes A., Brown A., Frater J., Pybus OG., Goulder P., Klenerman P., Bowden R., Gomperts ED., Barnes E., Kapoor A., Sharp CP., Simmonds P.
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.