Paediatric PARV4 infection in South Africa: relationship to age, maternal PARV4 status, and HIV infection

First identified in 2005, PARV4 is best characterized in Western cohorts where it is strongly associated with other blood borne viruses and occurs only in individuals with risk factors for parenteral infection (in particular, injecting drug users). However, studies in Africa have shown evidence of PARV4 in subjects with no clear risk factors for acquisition of blood borne viruses. The clinical significance of PARV4 remains uncertain, but there is growing interest in the role of coinfecting pathogens in shaping outcomes of HIV, and in chronic viral infections as determinants of immunological development in childhood.