ANALYSIS OF WEST-AFRICAN HUNTERS FOR FOAMY VIRUS-INFECTIONS

Foamy viruses are a genus of complex retroviruses that infect a wide v ariety of mammals, However, a clear association with any disease proce ss has yet to be proven for these viruses. A higher human seroprevalen ce was reported in African populations, perhaps due to exposure to sim ian foamy viruses (SFV) endemic in primates, However, the earlier sero logic surveys were not confirmed by studies employing nucleic acid amp lification, Foamy virus infections of humans clearly do occur as rare zoonoses among primate center or laboratory workers exposed to captive primates or their blood, We sought to detect foamy virus infections i n a cohort of humans also presumed to be exposed to SFV, i.e., West Af rican hunters; We constructed recombinant vaccinia viruses that expres sed human foamy virus (HPV) Gag or Env polyproteins in mammalian cells , The sera from 17 monkey hunters or several controls were tested in r adioimmunoprecipitation assays (RIPAs) against the recombinant HFV pro teins, Chimpanzee sera or HFV-positive human sera immunoprecipitated g p130, the HFV Env precursor, as well as p74, the HFV Gag polyprotein, None of the hunters' sera recognized both of these recombinant protein s, We then employed a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the hunters' DNA but also failed to detect foamy virus infections, Therefore, by utilizing a recombinant RIPA and a nested PCR assay, we have not identified foamy virus infections occurring naturally in hunt ers exposed to wild monkeys in West Africa.