Screening pneumonia patients for mimivirus

Abstract

Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (APM), a virus of free-living amebae, has reportedly caused human respiratory disease. Using 2 newly developed real-time PCR assays, we screened 496 respiratory specimens from 9 pneumonia-patient populations for APM. This virus was not detected in any specimen, which suggests it is not a common respiratory pathogen.