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. 2022 Apr 21;14(5):855.
doi: 10.3390/v14050855.

Complexity of Human Cytomegalovirus Infection in South African HIV-Exposed Infants with Pneumonia

Kerusha Govender  1   2 , Raveen Parboosing  1 , Salvatore Camiolo  2 , Petr Hubáček  3 , Irene Görzer  4 , Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl  4 , Nicolás M Suárez  2
Affiliations

Complexity of Human Cytomegalovirus Infection in South African HIV-Exposed Infants with Pneumonia

Kerusha Govender et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can cause significant end-organ diseases such as pneumonia in HIV-exposed infants. Complex viral factors may influence pathogenesis including: a large genome with a sizeable coding capacity, numerous gene regions of hypervariability, multiple-strain infections, and tissue compartmentalization of strains. We used a whole genome sequencing approach to assess the complexity of infection by comparing high-throughput sequencing data obtained from respiratory and blood specimens of HIV-exposed infants with severe HCMV pneumonia with those of lung transplant recipients and patients with hematological disorders. There were significantly more specimens from HIV-exposed infants showing multiple HCMV strain infection. Some genotypes, such as UL73 G4B and UL74 G4, were significantly more prevalent in HIV-exposed infants with severe HCMV pneumonia. Some genotypes were predominant in the respiratory specimens of several patients. However, the predominance was not statistically significant, precluding firm conclusions on anatomical compartmentalization in the lung.

Keywords: HIV; compartmentalization; genotype; human cytomegalovirus; multiple-strain infections; pneumonia; whole genome sequence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Heatmap showing distribution of genotypes between respiratory and blood specimens. The frequencies of reads are depicted for genotypes in respiratory and blood specimens of eleven patients with multiple-strain infection on a color scale, with darker shading in increments of 20%. MSI = multiple-strain infection. SSI = single-strain infection, B = blood; R = respiratory.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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