Pepper Mild Mottle Virus, a Plant Virus Associated with Specific Immune Responses, Fever, Abdominal Pains, and Pruritus in Humans

Abstract

BackgroundRecently, metagenomic studies have identified viable Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), a plant virus, in the stool of healthy subjects. However, its source and role as pathogen have not been determined.Methods and Findings21 commercialized food products containing peppers, 357 stool samples from 304 adults and 208 stool samples from 137 children were tested for PMMoV using real-time PCR, sequencing, and electron microscopy. Anti-PMMoV IgM antibody testing was concurrently performed. A case-control study tested the association of biological and clinical symptoms with the presence of PMMoV in the stool. Twelve (57%) food products were positive for PMMoV RNA sequencing. Stool samples from twenty-two (7.2%) adults and one child (0.7%) were positive for PMMoV by real-time PCR. Positive cases were significantly more likely to have been sampled in Dermatology Units (p<10−6), to be seropositive for anti-PMMoV IgM antibodies (p = 0.026) and to be patients who exhibited fever, abdominal pains, and pruritus (p = 0.045, 0.038 and 0.046, respectively).ConclusionsOur study identified a local source of PMMoV and linked the presence of PMMoV RNA in stool with a specific immune response and clinical symptoms. Although clinical symptoms may be imputable to another cofactor, including spicy food, our data suggest the possibility of a direct or indirect pathogenic role of plant viruses in humans.

Membrane Bioreactor-Based Wastewater Treatment Plant in Saudi Arabia: Reduction of Viral Diversity, Load, and Infectious Capacity

“…Notably, PMMoV has been identified as the dominant virus in municipal wastewater from a WWTP in Arizona, US [29]. The ubiquity of PMMoV throughout different geographical locations suggests this virus to be a potential marker for tracing anthropogenic contamination [27,30]. While it remains unclear whether plant viruses cause disease in humans [31], PMMoV recovered from food samples and human feces were shown to infect hypersensitive Nicotiana tabcum var Xanthi NN at a dose of 10 8 copies [30].…”

“…The ubiquity of PMMoV throughout different geographical locations suggests this virus to be a potential marker for tracing anthropogenic contamination [27,30]. While it remains unclear whether plant viruses cause disease in humans [31], PMMoV recovered from food samples and human feces were shown to infect hypersensitive Nicotiana tabcum var Xanthi NN at a dose of 10 8 copies [30]. Compared to other viral species, both CGMMV and PMMoV were not removed by MBR completely (Figure S2), rather their molecular signatures were detected in high abundance in the final chlorinated post-MBR effluent.…”

Occurrence of Pepper Mild Mottle Virus in Drinking Water Sources in Japan

“…), causing various symptoms such as mild chlorosis, stunting, fruit mottling, and malformation (2). Processed food products containing peppers are therefore known to contain PMMoV, with a concentration of up to 10 7 copies/ml (3,4). A recent metagenomic analysis showed that PMMoV was the most abundant RNA virus in 3 fecal samples from healthy adults in the United States, comprising 75.7 to 99.4% of all RNA viral sequences identified (4).…”

The globalization of intestinal microbiota

“…Concerning the source of these viruses, we recently found that Tabasco products were contaminated at a very high level with the mild pepper virus. We showed that there is a statistical link between the presence of this virus at high load (in the feces, the virus is alive and cultivable) and clinical signs of fever, pruritis, and abdominal pain [14]. In this work, we showed that industrial products had a higher rate of contamination than local products due to the mutualization of microorganisms.…”