Prevalence and molecular characterization of WU/KI polyornaviruses isolated from pediatric patients with respiratory disease in Thailand

WU and KI polyomaviruses represent novel viruses discovered in respiratory secretions from human patients with acute respiratory tract infection. However, the association between WU/KI polyornaviruses and human disease has remained unclear. In this study, the prevalence of these two novel viruses and occurrence of co-infection with other respiratory viruses were determined in Thai pediatric patients with respiratory disease. Previously described PCR assays were applied to detect WU/Kl polyomaviruses as well as other respiratory viruses in 302 nasopharyngeal suction specimens collected from February 2006 through February 2007. The results revealed the anneal prevalence of WU and KI polyornaviruses in the Thai population was 6.29% and 1.99%, respectively. The frequency of co-detection of WU and KI polyornaviruses with other respiratory viral pathogens was 42.11% and 33.33%, respectively. Moreover, each of the two complete genome sequences of WU (CU-295 and CU-302) and KI (CU-255 and CU-258) polyornaviruses were genetically and phylogenetically characterized. Sequence analysis showed that they contained features common to those found in previous studies. However, there were several nucleotide variations within the non-coding regulatory regions and various non-synonymous mutations within the coding regions which may influence virulence and pathogenesis of these viruses. Nevertheless, it is still possible that these viruses are not the causative agents of clinical respiratory disease. Therefore, judging the association of WU/Kl polyomavirus infections with a particular disease will be challenging and require more comprehensive case control investigations. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.