Background
Coronavirus disease (COVID‐19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), was first detected in Japan in January 2020 and has spread throughout the country. Previous studies have reported that viral interference among influenza virus, rhinovirus, and other respiratory viruses can affect viral infections at the host and population level.
Methods
To investigate the impact of COVID‐19 on influenza and other respiratory virus infections, we analyzed clinical specimens collected from 2244 patients in Japan with respiratory diseases between January 2018 and September 2020.
Results
The frequency of influenza and other respiratory viruses (coxsackievirus A and B; echovirus; enterovirus; human coronavirus 229E, HKU1, NL63, and OC43; human metapneumovirus; human parainfluenza virus 1, 2, 3, and 4; human parechovirus; human respiratory syncytial virus; human adenovirus; human bocavirus; human parvovirus B19; herpes simplex virus type 1; and varicella‐zoster virus) was appreciably reduced among all patients during the COVID‐19 pandemic except for that of rhinovirus in children younger than 10 years, which was appreciably increased. COVID‐19 has not spread among this age group, suggesting an increased risk of rhinovirus infection in children.
Conclusions
Rhinovirus infections should be continuously monitored to understand their increased risk during the COVID‐19 pandemic and viral interference with SARS‐CoV‐2.
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV), a member of the family Paramyxoviridae, was first isolated in 2001. Seroepidemiological studies have shown that HMPV has been a major etiological agent of acute respiratory infections in humans for more than 50 years. Molecular epidemiological, genetic, and antigenetic evolutionary studies of HMPV will strengthen our understanding of the epidemic behavior of the virus and provide valuable insight for the control of HMPV and the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs against HMPV infection. In this study, the nucleotide sequence of and genetic variations in the G gene were analyzed in HMPV strains prevalent in Yokohama City, in the Kanto area, Japan, between January 2013 and June 2016. As a part of the National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases, Japan, 1308 clinical specimens (throat swabs, nasal swabs, nasal secretions, and nasal aspirate fluids) collected at 24 hospitals or clinics in Yokohama City were screened for 15 major respiratory viruses with a multiplex reverse transcription–PCR assay. HMPV was detected in 91 specimens, accounting for 7.0% of the total specimens, and the nucleotide sequences of the G genes of 84 HMPV strains were determined. Among these 84 strains, 6, 43, 10, and 25 strains were classified into subgroups A2a, A2b, B1, and B2, respectively. Approximately half the HMPV A2b subgroup strains detected since 2014 had a 180-nucleotide duplication (180nt-dup) in the G gene and clustered on a phylogenic tree with four classical 180nt-dup-lacking HMPV A2b strains prevalent between 2014 and 2015. The 180nt-dup causes a 60-amino-acid duplication (60aa-dup) in the G protein, creating 23–25 additional potential acceptor sites for O-linked sugars. Our data suggest that 180nt-dup occurred between 2011 and 2013 and that HMPV A2b strains with 180nt-dup (A2b180nt-dup HMPV) became major epidemic strains within 3 years. The detailed mechanism by which the A2b180nt-dup HMPV strains gained an advantage that allowed their efficient spread in the community and the effects of 60aa-dup on HMPV virulence must be clarified.
In 2017, novel human metapneumovirus (HMPV) A2b subgroup strains with a 111-nucleotide duplication in the G gene was detected by the present team. These strains were related to previously identified HMPV A2b strains with a 180-nucleotide duplication; however, they appeared to be different strains, produced by an independent duplication event. The recent evolution of HMPV suggests that careful monitoring of this virus is required.
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a major etiological agent of acute respiratory infections in humans. HMPV has been circulating worldwide for more than six decades and is currently divided into five agreed-upon subtypes: A1, A2a, A2b, B1, and B2. Recently, the novel HMPV subtypes A2c, A2b1, and A2b2 have been proposed. However, the phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships between these recently proposed HMPV subtypes are unclear. Here, we report a genome-wide phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of 161 HMPV strains, including unique HMPV subtype A2b strains with a 180- or 111-nucleotide duplication in the G gene (nt-dup). Our data demonstrate that the HMPV A2b subtype contains two distinct subtypes, A2b1 and A2b2, and that the HMPV subtypes A2c and A2b2 may be different names for the same subtype. HMPV A2b strains with a nt-dup also belong to subtype A2b2. Molecular evolutionary analyses indicate that subtypes A2b1 and A2b2 diverged from subtype A2b around a decade after the subtype A2 was divided into the subtypes A2a and A2b. These data support the A2b1 and A2b2 subtypes proposed in 2012 and are essential for the unified classification of HMPV subtype A2 strains, which is important for future HMPV surveillance and epidemiological studies.
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