Detection and pathogenicity of human metapneumovirus respiratory infection in pediatric Italian patients during a winter–spring season

Abstract

(i) Human metapneumovirus is a major viral pathogen in the Italian pediatric patient population; (ii) the severity of lower respiratory tract infections approaches that of human respiratory syncytial virus; (iii) there are preliminary indications that the duration of virus excretion may reach 2-3 weeks and that the level of viral load in NPA correlates with the clinical stage of human metapneumovirus infection.

The highest prevalence of human metapneumovirus in Ahwaz children accompanied by acute respiratory infections

“…[2][3][4][5]8,12,13] According to other reports, [5] our results conÞ rmed that wheezing and cough were in order the most prevalent sign and symptom in hMPV positive children affected by ARTI (Table). In addition, our study showed that bronchiolitis was the most signiÞ cant clinical diagnosis associated with the presence of hMPV: 28% compared to 67% reported in other studies.…”

“…[1] Two distinct genotypes have been described called type A and B, with a variable prevalence in the world. [2][3][4][5][6] hMPV has been shown to be responsible for a signiÞ cant portion of ARTI in early infancy and childhood as well as in the elderly and immunocompromised host. [1,3,6,7] hMPV is the second virus after human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) with the highest prevalence of ARTI (43%) among children and infants.…”

Phylogenetic Patterns of Human Respiratory Picornavirus Species, Including the Newly Identified Group C Rhinoviruses, during a 1-Year Surveillance of a Hospitalized Patient Population in Italy

“…Respiratory samples were aliquoted and handled as reported previously (14,16). A panel of 17 respiratory viruses was investigated as reported previously (13), including HRVs (9) and human enteroviruses (HEVs) (21).…”

Detection of Human Metapneumovirus in Nasopharyngeal Aspirates of Brazilian Children by Immunofluorescence Assay

“…The high rates of co-infection with hMPV-RSV reported in some studies may be due to the overlapping of virus seasons (Al-Sonboli et al 2006, Cuevas et al 2003, Principi et al 2006. No cases of hMPV-influenza A or other viruses analyzed were observed in this study, although co-infections of hMPV with other respiratory viruses had been reported in several studies (Heikkinen et al 2008, Sarasini et al 2006, Chano et al 2005, Manoha et al 2007, Sasaki et al 2005). …”