Human cases of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infections in Hungary

Abstract

Abstract Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) is a “neglected” rodent-borne viral zoonotic disease caused by lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) (family Arenaviridae). The aim of this retrospective clinical and laboratory study was to detect LCMV viral RNA using RT-PCR method from cerebrospinal fluid samples collected from patients with central nervous system (CNS) infections of unknown aetiology from over the past 12 years in Hungary. Between 2009 and 2020, a total of 74 blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples were tested using HHV1/2 serological (blood) and “in-house” HHV1/2-specific and LCMV-specific (RT)-PCR-based (cerebrospinal fluid) methods in Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Pécs. The mean age of the 74 patients included in our study was 24 years [min. 5 - max. 74], with a predominance of men [44 (59.5%); women: 30 (40.5%)]. Two-two (2.7%-2.7%) cerebrospinal fluid samples were revealed to be positive for HHV1/2 DNA and LCMV RNA by (RT)-PCR and sequencing. The first LCMV case was a 5-year-old preschool boy who had a hamster bite on his left-hand finger and the second LCMV case was a 74-year-old man who was living in a village had incipient dementia and a previous permanent functional CNS impairment. The two detected LCMV strains (MW558451 and OM648933) from year 2020 belonged to two different genetic lineages (I and II). A “neglected” LCM was reported from two cases with a CNS inflammation of unknown origin representing the first human LCMV infections confirmed by molecular methods in Hungary.