Persistence of Borna disease virus-specific nucleic acid in blood of psychiatric patient

Evidence of Borna disease virus (BDV) in patients with psychiatric diseases has been found by several researchers; BDV-specific antigen and nucleic acid has been reported in brain tissue,1,2 and in the blood of psychiatric patients.3 The latter finding is uncertain, because detection of BDV antigen or nucleic acid in blood seems to be difficult.4,5 We report BDV-specific nucleic acid in the blood of a patient with a psychiatric disease. A man aged 47 years had had multiple physical complaints (pain, gastric symptoms, dizziness, and sleep disturbances) for 28 years.