title: Identification of a new genotype of Torque Teno Mini virus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although human torque teno viruses (TTVs) were first discovered in 1997, still many associated aspects are not clarified yet. The viruses reveal a remarkable heterogeneity and it is possible that some genotypes are more pathogenic than others. The identification of all genotypes is essential to confirm previous pathogenicity data, and an unbiased search for novel viruses is needed to identify TTVs that might be related to disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  The virus discovery technique VIDISCA-454 was used to screen serum of 55 HIV-1 positive injecting drug users, from the Amsterdam Cohort Studies, in search for novel blood-blood transmittable viruses which are undetectable via normal diagnostics or panvirus-primer PCRs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A novel torque teno mini virus (TTMV) was identified in two patients and the sequence of the full genomes were determined. The virus is significantly different from the known TTMVs (< 40% amino acid identity in ORF1), yet it contains conserved characteristics that are also present in other TTMVs. The virus is chronically present in both patients, and these patients both suffered from a pneumococcal pneumonia during follow up and had extremely low B-cells counts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We describe a novel TTMV which we tentatively named TTMV-13. Further research is needed to address the epidemiology and pathogenicity of this novel virus.
authors.forename: Seyed Mohammad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jazaeri Farsani
authors.forename: Maarten F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Jebbink
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deijs
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canuti
authors.forename: Karel A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: van Dort
authors.forename: Margreet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.forename: Bart P X
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Grady
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prins
authors.forename: Formijn J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van Hemert
authors.forename: Neeltje A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Kootstra
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Center for Infection and Immunity Amsterdam (CINIMA), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. c.m.vanderhoek@amc.uva.nl.
authors.forename: Lia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Hoek
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009426:Netherlands; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D044967:Serum / Q000821:virology*; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous; D022783:Torque teno virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral