Detection of Parvovirus 4 in Iranian patients with HBV, HCV, HIV mono-infection, HIV and HCV co-infection

AIM: In this study, we investigated the prevalence of PARV4 virus among the healthy population and four other groups of HBV infected, HCV infected, HIV infected and HIV/HCV co-infected individuals in Iran. BACKGROUND: Parvovirus 4 (PARV4) was first discovered in 2005, in a hepatitis B virus–infected injecting drug user (IDU). To date, the best evidence about PARV4 transmission is parenteral roots which comes from IDU individuals. It seems that the prevalence of the virus in the normal population is very low. METHODS: A total of 613 patients, including chronic HCV (n=103), HBV (n=193), HIV (n=180) infected individuals, HIV/HCV (n=34) co-infected patients and 103 healthy controls, were studied by using nested-PCR and also real-time PCR techniques. RESULTS: Of those 180 samples were positive for HIV RNA, co-infection of PARV4 was detected in 3 cases (1.66%). All these three patients were male with the age of 28, 32 and 36 years (mean: 32). No statistical differences were found between HIV positive group and the healthy individuals. (P>0.05) The result of PARV4 PCR was negative in all other samples and healthy controls as well. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to investigate the occurrence of PARV4 among these groups in Iran. The results show that the virus is not significant in Iranian population, even in patients with blood born infections such as HCV, HBV or even HIV patients. Further studies in other areas and various groups are required.