Epidemiological characteristics and phylogenic analysis of human respiratory syncytial virus in patients with respiratory infections during 2011–2016 in southern China

Abstract

A B S T R A C TBackground: Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most important pathogens that cause acute respiratory infections in children and immunocompromised adults. This work was conducted to understand the epidemiological and phylogenetic features of RSV in southern China during 2011-2016. Methods: A total of 16 024 nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from patients with respiratory infections in 14 hospitals, and screened for RSV and seven other respiratory viruses using real-time PCR. Six hundred and twenty-three RSV-positive samples from 13 hospitals were further analyzed for subtypes. G gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed based on 46 RSV-A and 15 RSV-B strains. Results: RSV was detected in 9.5% of the 16 024 specimens, the highest among the eight respiratory viruses screened. Most of these specimens came from inpatients and children under 3 years of age. The incidence of RSV-A (9.4%) was higher than that of RSV-B (4.4%) in children (<15 years), but not in adults (0.64% vs. 0.58%). A 2-year RSV-A dominance followed by a 1-year RSV-B dominance pattern was found. The co-detection rate of RSV was 25.1%. The main prevalent genotypes were NA1, ON1, and BA9. The prevalent RSV-A genotype in 2011-2012 was NA1, close to Chongqing and Brazil, but a new Hong Kong ON1 genotype was introduced and became the prevalent genotype in Guangzhou in 2014-2015. Deduced amino acid sequence analysis confirmed the ongoing evolution and a high selection pressure of RSV-A and B strains, especially in RSV-A ON1 and NA1 genotypes. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the molecular epidemiological characteristics of RSV in patients with respiratory infections in southern China.

Investigation of occurrence patterns of respiratory syncytial virus A and B in infected-patients from Cheonan, Korea

“…Studies conducted in temperate climates and RSV, such as in Korea, have reported to be prevalent between October and April [ 15 – 17 ]. Compared with similar studies in China over a similar period, the results do not show as clear alternating pattern [ 18 ].…”

The spatial-temporal dynamics of respiratory syncytial virus infections across the east-west coasts of Australia during 2016-17

“…Specifically, with this lab testing data a transition from RSV-B to RSV-A was observed between the 2016 and 2017 seasons in WA (data not shown). These results are consistent with other molecular epidemiological studies globally that show both RSV-A and RSV-B subtypes co-circulate with shifting predominance across seasons (Di Giallonardo et al, 2018; Luo et al, 2020; Razanajatovo Rahombanjanahary et al, 2020; Yun et al, 2020)…”

“…Specifically, a transition from RSV-B to RSV-A was observed between the 2016 and seasons in WA (data not shown). These results are consistent with other molecular epidemiological studies globally that show both RSV-A and RSV-B subtypes co-circulate with shifting predominance across seasons [7,[31][32][33] were generated in a previous study [7].…”

Characteristics and forecasting of respiratory viral epidemics among children in west China

“…The majority of ARTI cases can be attributed to viral infection, and among the diverse types of respiratory viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), influenza virus (Flu), and parainfluenza virus (PIV) are the most common ones. [ 2 – 5 ] According to World Health Organization statistics, RSV infection causes the hospitalization of 3.2 million people, and 1/15th of them eventually die. [ 6 ] Flu exhibits an obvious seasonality in positive infection rates and accounts for 7% of ARTI cases, 5% of ARTI-related hospital admissions, and 4% of ARTI-related deaths in children <5 years.…”