Nature of the Virus Associated with Endemic Balkan Nephropathy

ndemic Balkan nephropathy (EBN), a disease restricted to three Balkan countries (Bulgaria, Rumania, and Yugoslavia), is characterized by a progressive shrinking of the kidneys and, in some cases, tumors in the proximal regions of the urinary tract (1,2). A coronavirus was reported to be involved in the etiology of the disease, mostly on the basis of the isolation of a virus in cultures of kidney cells from a patient with EBN (1,3). In addition, EBN-associated virus is reported to share serologic homology with human coronaviruses OC43 and 229E, as well as the porcine transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (formal name: Transmissible gastroenteritis virus [TGEV]), a virus that our laboratory has been studying for 16 years (4,5). The objective of this commentary is to clarify whether the EBN-associated virus is in fact related to members of the Coronaviridae family (6).