LETTERS

Clea Melenotte, guidelines and in accordance with the Philippe Brouqui, Declaration of Helsinki.) and Elisabeth Botelho-Nevers in the Human Samples from 3 patients were Author affi liation: Aix Marseille Université, Respiratory Tract confi rmed by sequencing to be posi- Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France tive for genogroup I picobirnavi- To the Editor: Picobirnaviruses ruses. To determine genetic relation- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1809.111701 (family Picobirnaviridae) are nonen- ships between human genogroup I veloped, double-stranded RNA - picobirnaviruses from the respiratory References es of vertebrates with a bisegmented tract and genogroup I picobirnavi- 1. Mankertz A, Mihneva Z, Gold H, . Segment 1 (2.2–2.7 kb) en- ruses detected in wastewater and in Baumgarte S, Baillot A, Helble R, et al. codes the protein, and segment human and porcine fecal samples, Spread of measles virus D4-Hamburg, 2 (1.2–1.9 kb) encodes the RNA- we constructed a phylogenetic tree Europe, 2008–2011. Emerg Infect Dis. dependent RNA polymerase. On the 2011;17:1396–401. on the basis of a ≈165-nt fragment 2. Muscat M. Who gets measles in Europe? basis of sequence diversity in segment of the RNA-dependent RNA poly- J Infect Dis. 2011;204(Suppl 1):S353–65. 2, picobirnaviruses are classifi ed into merase gene as described (8) (Fig- http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jir067 2 genogroups (1–4). Picobirnaviruses ure, Appendix, wwwnc.cdc.gov/ 3. Centers for Disease Control and have been detected in fecal samples Prevention. Increased transmission and EID/article/18/9/12-0507-F1.htm). outbreaks of measles—European Region, from humans with and without gastro- Before tree construction, 75 groups 2011. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. enteritis; in patients co-infected with were created from the ≈300 available 2011;60:1605–10. known enteric pathogens, including sequences by using 4. Cottrell S, Roberts RJ. Measles outbreak , caliciviruses, and astrovi- in Europe. BMJ. 2011;342:d3724. http:// FastGroup II (10). Because the aver- dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d3724 ruses (1,4); and in a wide range of ani- age pair-wise Jukes-Cantor distance 5. Masseria C, Mladovsky P, Hernandez- mals, such as pigs, calves, dogs, mon- was 0.46, a neighbor-joining tree was Quevedo C. The socio-economic keys, and snakes. The pathogenicity created by using the Jukes-Cantor determinants of the health status of of picobirnaviruses largely remains to Roma in comparison with non-Roma in model, with a bootstrap replication Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Eur J be determined, but studies in immu- of 1,000 (Figure). One of the 3 geno- Public Health. 2010;20:549–54. http:// nocompromised persons suggest that group I picobirnavirus sequences dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckq102 picobirnaviruses may be opportunistic found in this study, PBVI/Homo sapi- 6. Dejmek J, Ginter E, Solansky I, enteric pathogens (5,6). Podrazilova K, Stavkova Z, Benes I, et al. ens/VS2000057/2003, showed <95% Vitamin C, E and A levels in maternal and Recently, we identifi ed pico- sequence identity with previously de- fetal blood for Czech and Gypsy ethnic birnaviruses in the respiratory tract scribed picobirnavirus sequences and groups in the Czech Republic. Int J Vitam of pigs in Asia, and this identifi ca- is shown as a separate branch in the Nutr Res. 2002;72:183–90. http://dx.doi. tion expanded the knowledge on the org/10.1024/0300-9831.72.3.183 phylogenetic tree. The genogroup I 7. Hussey GD, Klein M. A randomized, tropism and host range of picobirna- picobirnavirus nucleotide sequences controlled trial of vitamin A in (7). No respiratory or other from the respiratory tracts of persons children with severe measles. N Engl clinical signs were observed in these in the Netherlands showed 58% to J Med. 1990;323:160–4. http://dx.doi. pigs at the time of sampling, making org/10.1056/NEJM199007193230304 97% similarity with each other. They 8. Measles vaccines: WHO position paper. it unclear whether picobirnaviruses belonged to different phylogenetic Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2009;84:349–60. are indeed respiratory pathogens (7). clades and did not group with other 9. de Pee S, Dary O. Biochemical indicators To determine whether picobirnavi- picobirnaviruses according to year of of vitamin A defi ciency: serum retinol ruses could also be present in the hu- and serum retinol binding protein. J Nutr. isolation or host species. 2002;132(Suppl):2895S–901S. man respiratory tract, we performed In conclusion, the identifi cation 10. Perry RT, Halsey NA. The clinical a diagnostic genogroup I picobirna- of new picobirnaviruses in respiratory signifi cance of measles: a review. J Infect virus PCR, with degenerated prim- tract samples from pigs (7) prompted Dis. 2004;189(Suppl 1):S4–16. http:// ers, that targeted the RNA-dependent dx.doi.org/10.1086/377712 us to look for the presence of pico- RNA polymerase coding region birnaviruses in the respiratory tracts of Address for correspondence: Elisabeth Botelho- (1,4,8) on 309 bronchoalveolar la- humans. Genogroup I picobirnavirus- Nevers, Service de Maladies Infectieuses vage specimens collected from 309 es could be identifi ed in some of the et Tropicales, IHU Méditerranée Infection, patients with respiratory disease of bronchoalveolar lavage specimens ob- URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, Faculté de unknown origin in the Netherlands tained from patients with unexplained Médecine, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 during 2003–2006. (All study proce- respiratory disease in the Netherlands. Marseille, France; email: elizabeth.botelho@ dures were performed in compliance This observation expands our knowl- ap-hm.fr with relevant laws and institutional edge of picobirnaviruses in humans

Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 18, No. 9, September 2012 1539 LETTERS and provides a clear example of how 2. Bányai K, Martella V, Bogdan A, Forgach New Delhi epidemiologic baseline information P, Jakab F, Meleg E, et al. Genogroup I picobirnaviruses in pigs: evidence for Metallo-β- on virus host range and tropism in ani- genetic diversity and relatedness to hu- mals may provide indications for the man strains. J Gen Virol. 2008;89:534–9. Lactamase presence of similar viruses in the same http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.83134-0 4–producing organ system of humans. To clarify 3. Bhattacharya R, Sahoo GC, Nayak MK, Rajendran K, Dutta P, Mitra U, et al. De- Escherichia coli the epidemiology and pathogenicity of tection of genogroup I and II human pico- picobirnaviruses in humans, addition- birnaviruses showing small genomic RNA in Cameroon al surveillance should be carried out in profi le causing acute watery diarrhoea persons with and without respiratory among children in Kolkata, India. Infect To the Editor: The metallo- Genet Evol. 2007;7:229–38. http://dx.doi. β-lactamase (MBL) group of and enteric disease. org/10.1016/j.meegid.2006.09.005 4. Rosen BI, Fang ZY, Glass RI, Monroe enzymes inactivates many β-lactam Acknowledgments SS. Cloning of human picobirnavirus antimicrobial drugs. First identifi ed genomic segments and development We thank G. J. J. van Doornum for from a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain of an RT-PCR detection assay. Virol- providing bronchoalveolar lavage speci- recovered from a patient hospitalized ogy. 2000;277:316–29. http://dx.doi. in India, the New Delhi metallo-β- mens. org/10.1006/viro.2000.0594 5. Giordano MO, Martinez LC, Rinaldi lactamase-1 (NDM-1), particularly This work was partially funded by the D, Guinard S, Naretto E, Casero R, et in Enterobacteriaceae, is now the European Community’s Seventh Frame- al. Detection of picobirnavirus in HIV- focus of worldwide attention (1). work Program (FP7/2007–2013) under the infected patients with diarrhea in Argen- tina. J Acquir Immune Defi c Syndr Hum Whereas India and Pakistan were project “European Management Platform Retrovirol. 1998;18:380–3. http://dx.doi. considered as the main reservoirs of for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious org/10.1097/00042560-199808010-00010 the blaNDM-1 gene (2) that produces Disease Entities” European Commission 6. Martínez LC, Giordano MO, Isa MB, Al- this MBL, several NDM-1–producing agreement no. 223498 and the Virgo Con- varado LF, Pavan JV, Rinaldi D, et al. Mo- lecular diversity of partial-length genomic Enterobacteriaceae isolates have been sortium, funded by the Dutch government segment 2 of human picobirnavirus. Inter- reported from the Balkan states and project no. FES908 and by the Netherlands virology. 2003;46:207–13. http://dx.doi. the Middle East, suggesting that those Genomics Initiative project no. 050. org/10.1159/000072429 areas might be secondary reservoirs 7. Smits SL, Poon LL, van LM, Lau PN, Per- era HK, Peiris JS, et al. Genogroup I and (2). Saskia L. Smits, II picobirnaviruses in respiratory tracts of Since 2010, 3 NDM-1 point- Marije van Leeuwen, pigs. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011;17:2328–30. mutation variants have been described http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1712.110934 (3–5). The fi rst variant, NDM-2, was Claudia M.E. Schapendonk, 8. van Leeuwen M, Williams MM, Koraka Anita C. Schürch, P, Simon JH, Smits SL, Osterhaus AD. identifi ed from an Acinetobacter Rogier Bodewes, Human picobirnaviruses identifi ed by mo- baumannii isolate collected from a Bart L. Haagmans, lecular screening of diarrhea samples. J patient transferred from a hospital in Clin Microbiol. 2010;48:1787–94. http:// Egypt to Germany (4). Subsequently, and Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus dx.doi.org/10.1128/JCM.02452-09 Author affi liations: Erasmus Medical Cen- 9. Fregolente MC, Gatti MS. Nomencla- a clonal dissemination of NDM- ter, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (S. Smits, ture proposal for picobirnavirus. Arch 2–producing A. baumanni was C.M.E. Schapendonk, A.C. Schürch, R. Virol. 2009;154:1953–4. http://dx.doi. described in Israel (6). The second org/10.1007/s00705-009-0537-z Bodewes, B.L. Haagmans, A.D.M.E. Os- variant, NDM-4, which was identifi ed 10. Yu Y, Breitbart M, McNairnie P, Rohwer F. terhaus); and Viroclinics Biosciences BV, FastGroupII: a web-based bioinformatics in Escherichia coli from a patient Rotterdam (S.L. Smits, M. van Leeuwen, platform for analyses of large 16S rDNA hospitalized in India, possessed A.D.M.E. Osterhaus) libraries. BMC Bioinformatics. 2006;7:57. a higher carbapenemase activity http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-7-57 compared with NDM-1 (5). The most DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1809.120507 recent variant, NDM-5, was identifi ed in E. coli from a patient who had a Address for correspondence: Saskia L. Smits, References history of hospitalization in India (3). Department of Virology, Erasmus MC/ As recommended for the detection 1. Bányai K, Jakab F, Reuter G, Bene J, Uj Viroclinics Biosciences BV, PO Box 2040, 3000 M, Melegh B, et al. Sequence heteroge- of carbapenemase producers (7), a CA, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; email: smits@ neity among human picobirnaviruses de- rectal swab specimen was collected viroclinics.com tected in a outbreak. Arch from a patient transferred from Virol. 2003;148:2281–91. http://dx.doi. org/10.1007/s00705-003-0200-z Cameroon to France. The E. coli strain FEK was isolated from the specimen.

1540 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 18, No. 9, September 2012