Epidemiology and Clinical Symptoms Related to Seasonal Coronavirus Identified in Patients with Acute Respiratory Infections Consulting in Primary Care over Six Influenza Seasons (2014–2020) in France

Abstract

There is currently debate about human coronavirus (HCoV) seasonality and pathogenicity, as epidemiological data are scarce. Here, we provide epidemiological and clinical features of HCoV patients with acute respiratory infection (ARI) examined in primary care general practice. We also describe HCoV seasonality over six influenza surveillance seasons (week 40 to 15 of each season) from the period 2014/2015 to 2019/2020 in Corsica (France). A sample of patients of all ages presenting for consultation for influenza-like illness (ILI) or ARI was included by physicians of the French Sentinelles Network during this period. Nasopharyngeal samples were tested for the presence of 21 respiratory pathogens by real-time RT-PCR. Among the 1389 ILI/ARI patients, 105 were positive for at least one HCoV (7.5%). On an annual basis, HCoVs circulated from week 48 (November) to weeks 14–15 (May) and peaked in week 6 (February). Overall, among the HCoV-positive patients detected in this study, HCoV-OC43 was the most commonly detected virus, followed by HCoV-NL63, HCoV-HKU1, and HCoV-229E. The HCoV detection rates varied significantly with age (p = 0.00005), with the age group 0–14 years accounting for 28.6% (n = 30) of HCoV-positive patients. Fever and malaise were less frequent in HCoV patients than in influenza patients, while sore throat, dyspnoea, rhinorrhoea, and conjunctivitis were more associated with HCoV positivity. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that HCoV subtypes appear in ARI/ILI patients seen in general practice, with characteristic outbreak patterns primarily in winter. This study also identified symptoms associated with HCoVs in patients with ARI/ILI. Further studies with representative samples should be conducted to provide additional insights into the epidemiology and clinical features of HCoVs.

Complicating Infections Associated with Common Endemic Human Respiratory Coronaviruses

“…Seasonal variation in coronavirus activity has been seen, with most activity occurring in the wintertime, with some exceptions. [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] A systematic review of seasonal incidence by Li et al 54 recently came to the same conclusion. A Brazilian study in contrast, found that 229E was more common in autumn.…”

“…43 In 1 study, OC43 and HKU1 were more common for patients over the age of 75 years, and HKU1 was most common coronavirus over the age of 60 years. 50 A study in Canada found a higher rate of pneumonia with 229E compared to HKU1 infections. 88 Another study in Canada found an association between female gender and smoking history as a risk factor for likelihood for intensive care admission and mortality.…”

“…x29, 33,34,42,45,46,[48][49][50][51]53,69,78,[88][89][90][91]96,107,117,120,124,126,128,134,[136][137][138][140][141][142]145,146,[149][150][151][152][153][154][156][157][158]160,162,187 ** 46,88,133,134,142,154,187 {{30,46,50,53,61,70,83,88,91,95,116,122,129,132,140,146,158,162 CIMOLAI that behave in more aggressive and epidemic form. SARS-CoV did not gain endemic status in any population after a brief bout of epidemics.…”

A throughput serological Western blot system using whole virus lysate for the concomitant detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and human endemic Coronaviridae

“…By integrating DigiWest assays for 229E, OC43 and NL63 into the detection system Antibodies against endemic coronaviruses are frequently found in human individuals (18). These viruses cause mild diseases and are associated with approximately 20 % of the common colds (19,20). However, when comparing the sequences of the virus genome, the degree of similarity between the SARS-CoV-2 and these viruses is astonishingly high (21).…”

“…Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a newly identified beta coronavirus that crossed the species barrier and found its way into the human population in 2019. It causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19), and the ongoing pandemic has a devastating effect on wide parts of the human population (1). The virus is highly contagious causing the disease to spread very rapidly, yet symptoms of infected individuals vary widely.…”