De-discovering pathogens: Viral contamination strikes again

Qiagen spin column at right. The silica layer is white. The spin column is placed in the microcentrifuge tube, left, to remove liquids and elute nucleic acids. Do you remember the retrovirus XMRV, initially implicated as the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, and later shown to be a murine virus that contaminated human cells grown in mice? Another virus thought to be associated with human disease has recently been shown to be a contaminant, derived from a piece of laboratory plasticware that is commonly used to purify nucleic acids from clinical samples. During a search for the causative agent of seronegative hepatitis (disease not caused by hepatitis A, B, C, D, or E virus) in Chinese patients, a novel virus was discovered in sera by next generation sequencing. This virus, provisionally called NIH-CQV, has a single-stranded DNA genome that is a hybrid between parvoviruses and circoviruses. When human sera were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 63 of 90 patient samples (70%) were positive for the virus, while sera from 45 healthy controls were negative. Furthermore, 84% of patients were positive for IgG antibodies against the virus, and 31% were positive for IgM antibodies (suggesting a recent infection). Among healthy controls, 78% were positive for IgG and all were negative for IgM. The authors concluded that this virus was highly prevalent in some patients with seronegative hepatitis. A second independent laboratory also identified the same virus (which they c...
Source: virology blog - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Basic virology Information circovirus contaminant diatom parvovirus Qiagen retrovirus silica spin column viral xmrv Source Type: blogs