Circovirus Hepatitis Infection in Heart-Lung Transplant Patient, France

Overview

Journal Emerg Infect Dis

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2023 Jan 3

PMID 36596569

Authors

Philippe Perot

Jacques Fourgeaud

Claire Rouzaud

Beatrice Regnault

Nicolas Da Rocha

Helene Fontaine

Jerome Le Pavec

Samuel Dolidon

Margaux Garzaro

Delphine Chretien

Guillaume Morcrette

Thierry Jo Molina

Agnes Ferroni

Marianne Leruez-Ville

Olivier Lortholary

Anne Jamet

Marc Eloit

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In March 2022, a 61-year-old woman in France who had received a heart-lung transplant sought treatment with chronic hepatitis mainly characterized by increased liver enzymes. After ruling out common etiologies, we used metagenomic next-generation sequencing to analyze a liver biopsy sample and identified an unknown species of circovirus, tentatively named human circovirus 1 (HCirV-1). We found no other viral or bacterial sequences. HCirV-1 shared 70% amino acid identity with the closest known viral sequences. The viral genome was undetectable in blood samples from 2017-2019, then became detectable at low levels in September 2020 and peaked at very high titers (10 genome copies/mL) in January 2022. In March 2022, we found >10 genome copies/g or mL in the liver and blood, concomitant with hepatic cytolysis. We detected HCirV-1 transcripts in 2% of hepatocytes, demonstrating viral replication and supporting the role of HCirV-1 in liver damage.

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