Seroprevalence of Molluscum contagiosum Virus in German and UK Populations

PLOS ONE, Dec 2019

Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) is a significant but underreported skin pathogen for children and adults. Seroprevalence studies can help establish burden of disease. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based studies have been published for Australian and Japanese populations and the results indicate seroprevalences between 6 and 22 percent in healthy individuals, respectively. To investigate seroprevalence in Europe, we have developed a recombinant ELISA using a truncated MCV virion surface protein MC084 (V123-R230) expressed in E. coli. The ELISA was found to be sensitive and specific, with low inter- and intra-assay variability. Sera from 289 German adults and children aged 0–40 years (median age 21 years) were analysed for antibodies against MC084 by direct binding ELISA. The overall seropositivity rate was found to be 14.8%. The seropositivity rate was low in children below the age of one (4.5%), peaked in children aged 2–10 years (25%), and fell again in older populations (11–40 years; 12.5%). Ten out of 33 healthy UK individuals (30.3%; median age 27 years) had detectable MC084 antibodies. MCV seroconversion was more common in dermatological and autoimmune disorders, than in immunocompromised patients or in patients with multiple sclerosis. Overall MCV seroprevalence is 2.1 fold higher in females than in males in a UK serum collection. German seroprevalences determined in the MC084 ELISA (14.8%) are at least three times higher than incidence of MC in a comparable Swiss population (4.9%). While results are not strictly comparable, this is lower than Australian seroprevalence in a virion based ELISA (n = 357; 23%; 1999), but higher than the seroprevalence reported in a Japanese study using an N-terminal truncation of MC133 (n = 108, 6%; 2000. We report the first large scale serological survey of MC in Europe (n = 393) and the first MCV ELISA based on viral antigen expressed in E. coli.

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Seroprevalence of Molluscum contagiosum Virus in German and UK Populations

et al. (2014) Seroprevalence of Molluscum contagiosum Virus in German and UK Populations. PLoS ONE 9(2): e88734. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088734 Seroprevalence of Molluscum contagiosum Virus in German and UK Populations Subuhi Sherwani 0 Laura Farleigh 0 Nidhi Agarwal 0 Samantha Loveless 0 Neil Robertson 0 Eva Hadaschik 0 Paul Schnitzler 0 Joachim Jakob Bugert 0 James P. Stewart, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom 0 1 Cardiff University School of Medicine, Institute of Infection and Immunity/Medical Microbiology, Cardiff, United Kingdom, 2 Dr P N Behl Skin Institute and School of Dermatology , New Delhi , India , 3 Cardiff University Medical School, Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience , Cardiff , United Kingdom , 4 Universita t Heidelberg, Hautklinik, Heidelberg, Germany, 5 Universita t Heidelberg , Dept.of Infectious Diseases , Heidelberg , Germany Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) is a significant but underreported skin pathogen for children and adults. Seroprevalence studies can help establish burden of disease. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based studies have been published for Australian and Japanese populations and the results indicate seroprevalences between 6 and 22 percent in healthy individuals, respectively. To investigate seroprevalence in Europe, we have developed a recombinant ELISA using a truncated MCV virion surface protein MC084 (V123-R230) expressed in E. coli. The ELISA was found to be sensitive and specific, with low inter- and intra-assay variability. Sera from 289 German adults and children aged 0-40 years (median age 21 years) were analysed for antibodies against MC084 by direct binding ELISA. The overall seropositivity rate was found to be 14.8%. The seropositivity rate was low in children below the age of one (4.5%), peaked in children aged 210 years (25%), and fell again in older populations (11-40 years; 12.5%). Ten out of 33 healthy UK individuals (30.3%; median age 27 years) had detectable MC084 antibodies. MCV seroconversion was more common in dermatological and autoimmune disorders, than in immunocompromised patients or in patients with multiple sclerosis. Overall MCV seroprevalence is 2.1 fold higher in females than in males in a UK serum collection. German seroprevalences determined in the MC084 ELISA (14.8%) are at least three times higher than incidence of MC in a comparable Swiss population (4.9%). While results are not strictly comparable, this is lower than Australian seroprevalence in a virion based ELISA (n = 357; 23%; 1999), but higher than the seroprevalence reported in a Japanese study using an N-terminal truncation of MC133 (n = 108, 6%; 2000. We report the first large scale serological survey of MC in Europe (n = 393) and the first MCV ELISA based on viral antigen expressed in E. coli. - After the eradication of smallpox, MCV is the principal poxvirus causing human disease [14]. MCV is classified as a member of the family Poxviridae, in its own genus Molluscipoxvirus [5]. It has unique features that are distinct from other poxviruses pathogenic for humans, including smallpox and monkeypox [6]. MCV shares the highest level of amino acid (aa) similarity and unique proteins with parapoxviruses such as Orf viruses [7]. MCV infects the human skin and Molluscum contagiosum (MC) is a sexually transmitted disease, with infections occurring worldwide [1,810]. Clinical infection is characterized by a variable number of papules, each forming a central crater filled with a waxy plug of cell debris mixed with a large numbers of virus particles. Histopathologically, MC causes a benign epidermal hyperproliferation, known as an acanthoma [11]. MC is most common in young children and teenagers. MC in immunocompromised patients results in more numerous and extensive lesions [12]. In immune-competent patients, lesion may persist for up to 12 months [11]. Spontaneous regression of MC lesions is commonly preceded by clinical signs of inflammation [13], indicating a vigorous immune response [14]. The true prevalence of MC has probably been underestimated because of the benign clinical manifestation and rare complications. Development of assays which could assist in seroprevalence studies has been hampered by unsuccessful attempts to cultivate MCV efficiently in vitro [1518]. The viral genome was sequenced in 1996 [2]. In the first known MCV antibody study in 1952, Mitchell found three out of 14 MC patients with complement-fixing antibody to an antigen prepared from human MC lesions [19]. Shirodaria et al. used MCV cryostat sections in an immunofluorescence study of MCV antibodies, reporting IgM class of antibodies only in MCV patients and IgG antibody responses in 16.7% of healthy control subjects (n = 30) [20]. Only two seroprevalence studies using ELISA, have been reported; one by Konya and Thompson [21] in 1999 and another by Watanabe et al. in 2000 [22]. Konya and coworkers described in 1992 a virion based enzyme linked immuno (...truncated)


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Subuhi Sherwani, Laura Farleigh, Nidhi Agarwal, Samantha Loveless, Neil Robertson, Eva Hadaschik, Paul Schnitzler, Joachim Jakob Bugert. Seroprevalence of Molluscum contagiosum Virus in German and UK Populations, PLOS ONE, 2014, Volume 9, Issue 2, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088734