Detection of human coronavirus NL63, human metapneumovirus and respiratory syncytial virus in children with respiratory tract infections in south-west Sweden

Abstract

Two recently detected viruses, human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63), have been associated with acute respiratory tract infections, particularly in young children. This study investigated the frequency of hMPV and HCoV-NL63 infections in Swedish children by screening 221 nasopharyngeal aspirates, collected between November 2003 and May 2005, from 212 children attending the paediatric department of a county hospital in Sweden or submitted from local general practitioners. The samples were originally submitted to be tested for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and were examined retrospectively for hMPV and HCoV-NL63 by RT-PCR. Of the 212 patients, 101 were positive for RSV (48%), 22 (10%) were positive for hMPV, and 12 (6%) were positive for HCoV-NL63. The frequency of HCoV-NL63 infection increased from 1% in 2003-2004 to 10% in 2004-2005. Sequence analysis of parts of the coronavirus genomes showed considerable similarity to the HCoV-NL63 prototype sequence. The study demonstrated that HCoV-NL63 and hMPV occur in south-west Sweden with essentially the same frequency, seasonal distribution and clinical characteristics as have been reported in other countries.

Human coronavirus NL63 infections in infants hospitalised with acute respiratory tract infections in South Africa

“…HCoV‐NL63 was found to circulate in infants and young children in both 2003 and 2004 with similar low prevalence rates of 0·8%. This finding is lower than that reported in previous studies where detection of HCoV‐NL63 ranged from 1% to 7·3% 6,7,15–20 although higher prevalences of 8·8% and 9·3% have also been reported 21,22 . Most HCoV‐NL63‐positive children (75%) were under 6 months, indicating that this younger age group may be more susceptible to severe infections requiring hospitalisation; a finding supported by other studies where 38/76 (50%), 4/5 (80%) and 11/12 (92%) of HCoV‐NL63 infections occurred in this age group respectively 7,19,21 .…”

La fréquence du virus respiratoire syncytial et des autres virus respiratoires dans les hospitalisations de l’enfant

“…Aux É tats-Unis, une surveillance des infections virales communautaires pendant les anné es 1990 a montré que le nombre de « croup » é tait presque é quivalent à celui des bronchiolites [2]. Dans une é tude mexicaine [4] [19][20][21]. Il est probable qu'ils jouent un rô le important dans la survenue de bronchiolites, surtout aprè s l'â ge de 6 mois, et dans l'exacerbation de crises d'asthme.…”

“…Il n'est pas question de discuter les recommandations universelles de vaccination d'enfants asthmatiques contre la grippe [22][23][24][25][26][27][28], mais 2 é tudes [26,27] ont montré que le virus influenza A ne jouait pas un rô le aussi important que celui qui lui est communé ment attribué dans les exacerbations de l'asthme chez l'enfant. L'absence de recherche de rhinovirus et de mé tapneumovirus a sous-estimé l'importance des infections virales dans les exacerbations de crises d'asthme [19,21].…”

Identification of residues in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein of human coronavirus NL63 that are critical for the RBD–ACE2 receptor interaction

“…NL63 has been found to be associated with diseases in the upper and lower respiratory tracts, such as bronchiolitis, conjunctivitis, croup and pneumonia in young children and immunocompromised adults (Arden et al, 2005;Bastien et al, 2005;Ebihara et al, 2005;Gerna et al, 2006;Kaiser et al, 2005;van der Hoek et al, 2005. So far, NL63 infections have been reported in 12 countries across Europe, Asia and North America, indicating that it is circulating among the human population worldwide (Arden et al, 2005;Bastien et al, 2005;Han et al, 2007;Koetz et al, 2006;Lau et al, 2006;Suzuki et al, 2005;Vabret et al, 2005).NL63 is a member of the group I coronaviruses, which also includes HCoV-229E (229E), feline infectious peritonitis virus 79-1146, feline enteric coronavirus 79-1683, canine coronavirus and porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) (van der Hoek et al, 2004. The genome of NL63 contains 27553 nt and encodes the polyproteins 1a Sturman & Holmes, 1984).…”