Volume 13, Number 1—January 2007 Parvoviruses PARV4 and PARV5
and Hepatitis C Virus To the Editor: Parvoviruses are small,
nonenveloped DNA viruses that infect both vertebrate and
invertebrate hosts. Until recently, parvovirus B19 and adeno-
associated viruses, which belong to the genera Erythrovirus and
Dependovirus, respectively, were the only known members of the
family Parvoviridae that infected humans (1). However, 2 recent
publications have identified 2 distinct, novel parvoviruses in
humans by using the DNase sequence–independent single-primer
amplification technique and a related method (2,3). The first of
these viruses, termed PARV4, was observed in a patient with
symptoms of acute viral infection syndrome after high-risk
behavior for infection with HIV-1, although the patient was
subsequently confirmed as negative for HIV-1 (2). The second
parvovirus was identified in respiratory samples from children
with lower respiratory tract infections and termed human
bocavirus (3). Parvovirus B19 is a frequent