{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,26]],"date-time":"2026-09-26T05:30:38Z","timestamp":1790400638529,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,22]],"date-time":"2021-06-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1624320000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000781","name":"European Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ERC 671055"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ERC 671055"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000781","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RC2 DK116713-01A1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RC2 DK116713-01A1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Despite the increasing epidemiological evidence that the Onchocerca volvulus parasite is strongly associated with epilepsy in children, hence the name onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE), the pathophysiological mechanism of OAE remains to be elucidated. In June 2014, children with unprovoked convulsive epilepsy and healthy controls were enrolled in a case control study in Titule, Bas-U\u00e9l\u00e9 Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to identify risk factors for epilepsy. Using a subset of samples collected from individuals enrolled in this study (16 persons with OAE and 9 controls) plasma, buffy coat, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were subjected to random-primed next-generation sequencing. The resulting sequences were analyzed using sensitive computational methods to identify viral DNA and RNA sequences. Anneloviridae, Flaviviridae, Hepadnaviridae (Hepatitis B virus), Herpesviridae, Papillomaviridae, Polyomaviridae (Human polyomavirus), and Virgaviridae were identified in cases and in controls. Not unexpectedly, a variety of bacteriophages were also detected in all cases and controls. However, none of the identified viral sequences were found enriched in OAE cases, which was our criteria for agents that might play a role in the etiology or pathogenesis of OAE.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens10070787","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,22]],"date-time":"2021-06-22T22:10:59Z","timestamp":1624399859000},"page":"787","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["No Evidence Known Viruses Play a Role in the Pathogenesis of Onchocerciasis-Associated Epilepsy. An Explorative Metagenomic Case-Control Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1488-5148","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Roach","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adrian","family":"Cantu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computational Sciences Research Center, Biology Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3967-4945","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Melissa Krizia","family":"Vieri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, 2160 Antwerp, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthew","family":"Cotten","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1RQ, UK"},{"name":"MRC\/UVRI and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Entebbe, Uganda"},{"name":"Centre for Virus Research, MRC-University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Kellam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MRC\/UVRI and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Entebbe, Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6905-8513","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"My","family":"Phan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MRC\/UVRI and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Entebbe, Uganda"},{"name":"Centre for Virus Research, MRC-University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2803-642X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lia van der","family":"Hoek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WX Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michel","family":"Mandro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Provincial Health Division Ituri, Ministry of Health, Ituri, Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Floribert","family":"Tepage","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Provincial Health Division Bas U\u00e9l\u00e9, Ministry of Health, Bas U\u00e9l\u00e9, Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Germain","family":"Mambandu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Provincial Health Division Tshopo, Ministry of Health, Tshopo, Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gisele","family":"Musinya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res, Bunia, Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7626-9426","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anne","family":"Laudisoit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ecohealth Alliance, New York, NY 10018, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1919-1340","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert","family":"Colebunders","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, 2160 Antwerp, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8383-8949","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert","family":"Edwards","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia"},{"name":"Computational Sciences Research Center, Biology Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA"},{"name":"Viral Information Institute, Biology Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3461-580X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John L.","family":"Mokili","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Viral Information Institute, Biology Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Colebunders, R., Fodjo, J.N.S., Hopkins, A., Hotterbeekx, A., Lakwo, T.L., Kalinga, A., Logora, M.Y., and Bas\u00e1\u00f1ez, M.-G. 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