Central Virology Laboratory, Israel Ministry of Health, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, 52621, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
Department of Neurology, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon, Israel.
J Neurovirol. 2019 Aug;25(4):608-611. doi: 10.1007/s13365-019-00744-z. Epub 2019 Apr 4.
West Nile virus is a notable cause of neuroinvasive disease, damage to the central nervous system, or even death. In this study, using metagenomics analysis and quantitative real-time PCR validation, we identified a JC virus infection in urine and cerebrospinal fluid samples of a West Nile virus patient with severe neurological symptoms and extended disease. JC virus is known to be involved in neurological complications, especially in immunocompromised individuals thus suggesting that the coinfection with JC virus is involved with the West Nile virus infection persistence and severe symptoms. JC virus was identified in urine samples from additional West Nile virus patients via quantitative real-time PCR, however, JC virus was not found in any cerebrospinal fluid samples of West Nile virus patients, suggesting that JC virus does not regularly infect the central nervous system of WNV patients. Overall, this study highlights the importance of identifying infection by opportunistic viruses in already-diagnosed patients and highlights the advantages of next-generation sequencing and metagenomics for viral diagnosis.
西尼罗河病毒是一种引起神经侵袭性疾病、中枢神经系统损伤甚至死亡的重要病原体。在本研究中，我们通过宏基因组分析和实时定量 PCR 验证，在一名患有严重神经症状和延长疾病的西尼罗河病毒患者的尿液和脑脊液样本中发现了 JC 病毒感染。JC 病毒已知与神经并发症有关，特别是在免疫功能低下的个体中，因此提示 JC 病毒与西尼罗河病毒感染的持续存在和严重症状有关。通过实时定量 PCR 在另外一些西尼罗河病毒患者的尿液样本中也鉴定出了 JC 病毒，但在西尼罗河病毒患者的任何脑脊液样本中都未发现 JC 病毒，表明 JC 病毒通常不会感染西尼罗河病毒患者的中枢神经系统。总的来说，本研究强调了在已确诊患者中识别机会性病毒感染的重要性，并突出了下一代测序和宏基因组学在病毒诊断方面的优势。
