Abstract
Most human pegivirus 2 (HPgV-2) infections are associated with past or current hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HPgV-2 is thought to be a bloodborne virus: higher prevalence of active infection has been found in populations with a history of parenteral exposure to viruses. We evaluated longitudinally collected blood samples obtained from injection drug users (IDUs) for active and resolved HPgV-2 infections using a combination of HPgV-2–specific molecular and serologic tests. We found evidence of HPgV-2 infection in 11.2% (22/197) of past or current HCV-infected IDUs, compared with 1.9% (4/205) of an HCV-negative IDU population. Testing of available longitudinal blood samples from HPgV-2–positive participants identified 5 with chronic infection (>6 months viremia in >3 timepoints); 2 were identified among the HCV-positive IDUs and 3 among the HCV-negative IDUs. Our findings indicate that HPgV-2 can establish chronic infection and replicate in the absence of HCV.
Highlights
Most human pegivirus 2 (HPgV-2) infections are associated with past or current hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection
The recently identified human pegivirus HPgV-2 has yet to be linked with any disease in humans
HPgV-2 is a bloodborne virus, and a higher HPgV-2 prevalence is observed among HCV-positive injection drug users (IDUs) [4,6]
Summary
Most human pegivirus 2 (HPgV-2) infections are associated with past or current hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We further characterized longitudinal samples from available participants that showed active or resolved HPgV-2 infection upon testing initial or last timepoints. A total of 200 participants from baseline collection had a final follow-up sample available for evaluation in the HPgV-2 RNA and antibody assays; this group included 8 HCV-positive and 192 HCV-negative participants (Figure).
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