Iranian Journal of Virology
Volume:10 Issue: 1, 2016

CBLVd has been reported from northern of Iran previously. The aim of this study was evaluating new viroid variant from asymptomatic citrus trees of Fars province and comparing with its other isolates.
In this study a number of citrus trees without symptoms were sampled and subjected to RNA extraction followed by RT-PCR, cloning and sequencing of PCR products. Molecular properties of viroid variants were compared.
A novel variant of CBLVd from Fars was achieved and used for comparison with a number of other CBLVd sequences from GenBank. It was shown that on the basis of sequence homology, CBLVd isolate from Fars province and two CBLVd isolates reported from Pakistan (Punjab) clustered in one group. It is supposed that these variants possibly will have same origin and probably imported from Pakistan to Iran by infected plant tissues or transplants.
Therefore, we propose that the government regulates the importation of plants and plant products under the precise and rigorous authority of the plant protection institutes.

Despite of isolation of Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) from the patients acquired prostate cancer in 2006 and patients with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2009, there have been controversial findings about its potential role in human diseases and frequencies in different population groups. In the present study, we aimed to determine the frequency of XMRV genome in Iranian HIV-infected patients for the first time.
We performed a cross-sectional study on the prevalence of XMRV nucleic acid among 150 patients diagnosed with HIV infection from Tehran’s hospitals. After extracting the viral RNA from plasma samples, specimen's XMRV nucleic acid was amplified by Real-Time PCR, also HIV viral load testing was performed for all of the patients.
Out of 150 patients, XMRV RNA was found in 13 (8.6 %) patient's specimens, including 9 males (69/2%) and 4 females (30/8%). Average HIV viral load was 14471.92 and 17016.66 copies/ml in positive and negative XMRV patients, respectively.
Our results has shown a presence of XMRV infection in HIV-infected patients. But no other significant association was observed between XMRV with gender, age and HIV viral load of the patients. However, more studies are needed to demonstrate the actual prevalence of XMRV infection by geographical regions and different populations.

Akabane virus is an arbovirus in the genus Orthobunyavirus of the family Bunyaviridae that can affect ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats. This arthropod-borne virus is transmitted by either mosquitoes or midges and has been identified as a cause of outbreaks of reproductive disorders (abortions, premature births, and stillbirths) and congenital malformations (arthrogryposis, hydranencephaly and microencephaly) in cattle, sheep and goats. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of Akabane virus infection in cattle from Khouzestan province, the Southwest of Iran.
In this study serum samples of 361 cow were randomly collected from 9 cities of Khouzestan province and were examined by commercial ELISA kite.
Seroprevalence of Akabane virus infection was 85.87% (95% CI: 82.27-89.47%). Univariate statistical analysis showed that breed and age of cows (p0.05). Multivariate logistic regression showed that age, sex, breed, history of recently abortion, type of management and location justify 30.7% of infection fluctuations.
The results of the present study confirm that cattle in Khouzestan province are highly infected with Akabane virus. These findings call for continuous monitoring of the disease among ruminants in order to ascertain the actual burden and increase awareness of the disease. This will facilitate early detection and aid the development of appropriate control measures against the disease in this area.

Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is one of the life-threatening agents in immunosuppressed patients and congenitally infected neonates in the world. Mutations in UL27 were suggested to confer low- to high-grade Maribavir (MBV) resistance. As pUL27 R233S variation may involve in either MBV-resistance, we aimed to establish a method for identifying R233 coding sequence mutation.
Eleven boiled-DNA extracts from 2000 congenitally CMV infected (cCMV) neonates urines were provided. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed to amplify R233 coding sequence. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP), after selection of HhaI as a proper cutting enzyme at given site by NEBcutter server, was performed. PCR amplicons and digested samples were run on gel-electrophoresis for demonstration expected fragments.
Our result has proved that HhaI can cut UL27 containing wild type R233 coding sequence but not theR233 mutants. Among eleven clinical samples, one has shown R233 mutation, but other 10 samples had no variations by PCR-RFLP.
It seems that HhaI can be employed for molecular examination of HCMV UL27 R233 variations and this is the first report demonstrating that PCR-RFLP can be used to recognize CMV-pUL27 R233 mutation. Therefore, this work can open a new window for HCMV UL27 polymorphism analysis in the future.

Many individuals with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are asymptomatic, population-based serologic studies are needed to estimate the prevalence of infection which will help to take necessary procedures for prevension and control the disease.This study was conducted to find out the prevalence, of HCV infection among patients refering to the hospital care in rafsanjan, Iran.
A total of 940 blood samples (430 males and 510 females) were received and screened for hepatitis C infection during December 2015 to December 2016. After separation of serum from blood samples in local laboratory, All samples were tested for HCV Ag by ELISA tests. and Liver enzymes [Alkalin Phosphatase (ALP), Alanine aminotrans­ferase (ALT) and Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)] were determined using biochemical procedures.
Among 940 collected samples, 18 (1.91%) were positive for HCV Ab. Among the positive ones HCV hepatitis was more prevalent ,in male patients, than the females. The prevalence rates of HCV in male was 3.72% and 0.39% for female. Results related to age showed that higher rate of infection in 20-29 years old (%26.59), and the lowest was in the above 80 years old group (0.31%). Of the three enzymes,only ALP was significantly higher than the control group (P=0.003).
the prevalence of HCV in Rafsanjan was at an increasing rate. Findings from the current study will be helpful for the better management and control of viral hepatitis C infection.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease which is not known to be endemic in Iran.
Case Report: In October 2015, a 32-year-old Iranian woman was admitted with acute unexplained high-grade fever, headache, pain, rash, diarrhea, leukopenia and elevated liver enzymes after returning from India. Serological and molecular analysis for Dengue virus (DENV) infection revealed positive IgM, negative IgG and positive reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR)
PCR product was sequenced and the phylogenetic analysis showed a DENV 2, genotype 4 strain with high similarity to other isolates reported from India.
Considering that DENV is one of the most common infections among travelers, an integrated surveillance system is strictly recommended in dengue non endemic countries.