title: Occurrence of the European subgroup of subtype I BK polyomavirus in Japanese-Americans suggests transmission outside the family.
abstract: To examine the mode of transmission of BK polyomavirus (BKV), urine samples were collected from Japanese-Americans in Los Angeles and from other southern Californians. Subtype I was the main subtype found in samples from both groups. The subtype I subgroup Ib-2, which is predominant in Europe, was the primary subgroup detected in second-generation Japanese-Americans and in southern Californians; however, the Ic subgroup prevalent in native Japanese was rare in these populations. Since the European subgroup (Ib-2) predominated in the studied geographic area, the findings demonstrate that transmission outside the family is common in the spread of BKV, unlike previous findings for JC polyomavirus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. yogo-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yogo
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shibuya
authors.forename: Tadaichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitamura
mesh_terms: D001213:Asian; D001739:BK Virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D027601:Polyomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D014556:Urine / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral