Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was frequent in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients in Yunnan province. We studied the epidemic characteristics of HCV in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. Serum from 894 HIV-1 patients was collected, together with basic information and biochemical features. All samples were infected with HIV through injecting drug users (IDUs) and sexual transmission (ST). The NS5B gene was amplified and sequenced to affirm HCV genotype. In total, 202 HIV patients were co-infected with HCV, and most (81.19%) of co-infected patients were IDUs. Genotype 3b was predominant (37.62%) in these samples, and its frequency was similar in patients with IDU and ST. The frequencies of genotypes 1a, 1b, 3a, 6a, 6n, 2a and 6u were 3.96%, 16.34%, 23.76%, 6.93%, 10.40%, 0.50% and 0.50%, respectively. However, genotype 3a showed significantly different frequency in HCV patients with IDU and ST (P = 0.019). When HCV patients were divided into subgroups, the haemoglobin (HGB) level was significantly higher in patients with genotype 3a than in patients with 3b (P = 0.033), 6a (P = 0.006) and 6n (P = 0.007), respectively. Although no difference existed among HCV subgroups, HIV-viral load was identified to be positively correlated with the HGB level and CD4+ cells when dividing HCV/HIV co-infected persons into male and female groups. In conclusion, genotype 3b was the predominant HCV genotype in Yunnan HIV/HCV co-infected persons. The HGB level was higher in patients with genotype 3a than others. HIV-viral load was positively correlated with the HGB level and CD4+ cells in the male or female HCV-infected group.

As a universal pathogen leading to neonatal defects and transplant failure, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has strict species specificity and this has prevented the development of a suitable animal model for the pathogenesis study. The mechanism of cross-species barrier remains elusive and there are so far no non-human cell culture models that support HCMV replication. The Chinese tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis) is a small laboratory animal and evolutionary closely related with primates. We investigated the susceptibility of primary tree shrew dermis fibroblasts (TSDF) to HCMV infection. Infection with a GFP-expressing HCMV virus resulted in green fluorescence in infected cells with the expression of IE1, UL44 and pp28. The titers of cell-free viruses reached 10 3 PFU/mL at 96 hpi, compared to titers of 10 4 PFU/mL observed in primary human foreskin fibroblasts. Our results suggested that TSDF was semi-permissive for HCMV infection. The TSDF model could be further used to investigate key factors influencing cross-species multiplication of HCMV.

As a universal pathogen leading to neonatal defects and transplant failure, Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has strict species specificity that the inability to using this virus in animals has hampered its pathogenesis study. However, the mechanism of cross-species barrier remains elusive that no non-human cell model has been established to fill this knowledge gap. We observed that primary dermis fibroblasts (TSDF) isolated from the Chinese tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis), a small laboratory animal with close affinity to primates, were permissive to HCMV replication. In TSDF infected with GFP-expressing HCMV, the green fluorescence and cytopathic effect were observed and the expression of 3 kinetic genes and replication of viral genome were detected. The cell-free viruses produced in TSDF reached 10 3 pfu/mL at 96 hpi, which were 10-fold lower than in primary human foreskin fibroblasts. Our results demonstrated that TSDF supported low level of lytic replication of HCMV. The TSDF model provides a useful platform for the mechanism study of species barrier of HCMV.