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Humans are infected with viruses that establish long-term persistent infections. To address whether immunocompetent individuals control virus reactivation globally or independently and to identify patterns of sporadic reactivation, we monitored herpesviruses and polyomaviruses in 30 adults, over 14 months. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA was quantitated in saliva and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), cytomegalovirus (CMV) was assayed in urine, and JC virus (JCV) and BK virus (BKV) DNAs were assayed in urine and PBMCs. All individuals shed EBV in saliva, whereas 67% had >or=1 blood sample positive for EBV. Levels of EBV varied widely. CMV shedding occurred infrequently but occurred more commonly in younger individuals (P<.03). JCV and BKV virurias were 46.7% and 0%, respectively. JCV shedding was age dependent and occurred commonly in individuals >or=40 years old (P<.03). Seasonal variation was observed in shedding of EBV and JCV, but there was no correlation among shedding of EBV, CMV, and JCV (P>.50). Thus, adults independently control persistent viruses, which display discordant, sporadic reactivations.

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Patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection are at high risk of developing Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoma. However, little is known of the EBV DNA loads in patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Using a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay, we demonstrated that significantly more HIV-1-infected patients receiving HAART than HIV-1-uninfected volunteers had detectable EBV DNA in blood (57 [81%] of 70 vs. 11 [16%] of 68 patients; P=.001) and saliva (55 [79%] of 68 vs. 37 [54%] of 68 patients; P=.002). The mean EBV loads in blood and saliva samples were also higher in HIV-1-infected patients than in HIV-1-uninfected volunteers (P=.001). The frequency of EBV detection in blood was associated with lower CD4+ cell counts (P=.03) among HIV-1-infected individuals, although no differences were observed in the EBV DNA loads in blood or saliva samples in the HIV-1-infected group. Additional studies are needed to determine whether EBV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ cells play a role in the pathogenesis of EBV in HIV-1-infected patients receiving HAART.

Seroprevalence studies indicate that most primary infections with BK virus (BKV) and JC virus (JCV) occur in the first and second decades of life, respectively. Relatively little is known about the transmission of these agents, including the primary source of human exposure, the portal of entry, and the pathophysiology of life-long viral persistence. We sought to determine if simian virus 40 (SV40) excretion could be detected in the urine of healthy children and to define the age-related prevalence of polyomavirus shedding in this population. A point prevalence study of polyomavirus shedding was conducted in healthy children using rigorous enrollment criteria. Urine samples were collected from healthy children, age from 3 to 18 years, during routine evaluation at two urban pediatric clinics. Qualitative PCR analysis was performed using primers that detect a conserved region of the T-antigen gene of BKV, JCV, and SV40. The identity of polyomaviruses detected was determined by DNA sequence analysis and/or PCR amplification of other regions of the viral genomes. Seven of 72 (9.7%) urine samples were positive for polyomaviruses: three with BKV (ages 4, 6, 13), two with SV40 (ages 6, 16), two with BKV and SV40 co-excretion (ages 6, 15), and none with JCV. DNA sequence analysis confirmed the identity of viruses detected. These results suggest that the timing of SV40 infections in humans may be similar to that of BKV and that urine from healthy children could contribute to the ubiquity of BKV infection early in life.

Achieving global targets for restoring native vegetation cover requires restoration projects to identify and work toward common management objectives. This is made challenging by the different values held by concerned stakeholders, which are not often accounted for. Additionally, restoration is time‐dependent and yet there is often little explicit acknowledgment of the time frames required to achieve outcomes. Here, we argue that explicitly incorporating value and time considerations into stated objectives would help to achieve restoration goals. We reviewed the peer‐reviewed literature on restoration of terrestrial vegetation and found that while there is guidance on how to identify and account for stakeholder values and time considerations, there is little evidence these are being incorporated into decision‐making processes. In this article, we explore how a combination of stakeholder surveys and workshops can be used within a structured decision‐making framework to facilitate the integration of diverse stakeholder values and time frame considerations to set restoration objectives. We demonstrate this approach with a case of restoration decision‐making at a regional scale (southeast Queensland, Australia) with a view to this experience supporting similar restoration projects elsewhere.

Polyomaviruses BKV and JCV were commonly detected in urine from lung-transplant recipients. SV40 was found in 12% of patients but was shed at a lower frequency and with lower viral loads than the other viruses. Polyomavirus infection was not associated with renal dysfunction.

A phylogenetic analysis of 14 complete simian virus 40 (SV40) genomes was conducted in order to determine strain relatedness and the extent of genetic variation. This analysis included infectious isolates recovered between 1960 and 1999 from primary cultures of monkey kidney cells, from contaminated poliovaccines and an adenovirus seed stock, from human malignancies, and from transformed human cells. Maximum-parsimony and distance methods revealed distinct SV40 clades. However, no clear patterns of association between genotype and viral source were apparent. One clade (clade A) is derived from strain 776, the reference strain of SV40. Clade B contains isolates from poliovaccines (strains 777 and Baylor), from monkeys (strains N128, Rh911, and K661), and from human tumors (strains SVCPC and SVMEN). Thus, adaptation is not essential for SV40 survival in humans. The C terminus of the T-antigen (T-ag-C) gene contains the highest proportion of variable sites in the SV40 genome. An analysis based on just the T-ag-C region was highly congruent with the whole-genome analysis; hence, sequencing of just this one region is useful in strain identification. Analysis of an additional 16 strains for which only the T-ag-C gene was sequenced indicated that further SV40 genetic diversity is likely, resulting in a provisional clade (clade C) that currently contains strains associated with human tumors and human strain PML-1. Four other polymorphic regions in the genome were also identified. If these regions were analyzed in conjunction with the T-ag-C region, most of the phylogenetic signal could be captured without complete genome sequencing. This report represents the first whole-genome approach to establishing phylogenetic relatedness among different strains of SV40. It will be important in the future to develop a more complete catalog of SV40 variation in its natural monkey host, to determine if SV40 strains from different clades vary in biological or pathogenic properties, and to identify which SV40 strains are transmissible among humans.