Demonstration of human Borna disease virus RNA in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

BDV naturally infects horses and sheep, and causes sporadic neurological disease. Serological evidence suggests an association of BDV, or a related virus, with specific psychiatric diseases in humans. Here, by using a nested RT-PCR technique, we demonstrate that human BDV RNA is present in the PBMC of psychiatric patients. In an examination of a total of 60 patients from 5 wards of a hospital in Japan, the detection rate differed within each ward, ranging from 8% to > 50% (37% on the average). Of particular note was the finding that the human derived BDV sequences, which included deleted forms in about 23% of the positive samples, were slightly different from those derived from horse BDV. These results suggest urgent consideration of the measures to be taken to cope with the effects of blood transfusion. In addition, the detection of a high level of BDV in the PBMC of patients will help our understanding of the pathogenesis in the disease.