Genetic diversity among human parainfluenza virus type 2 isolated in Croatia between 2011 and 2014

Abstract

The dynamics and evolution of the human parainfluenza virus type 2 (HPIV2) in Croatia, and also globally, are largely unknown. Most HPIV2 infections are treated symptomatically outside the hospital setting. Thus, the diagnosis is missing making it difficult to follow the genetic variation and evolution of the HPIV2. This study explores hospitalized HPIV2 cases in Croatia during 4-year period (2011-2014). Most cases in this period were reported in October or November (68.75%) and most of patients were under 2 years of age (81.25%). For molecular analyses, we used the F and HN gene sequences and showed that although both regions are equally suitable for phylogenetic analyses it would be advantageous to use regions longer than 2 kb for HPIV2 analyses of isolates which are spatially and temporally closely related. We show here that the dominant cluster in this area was cluster G3 while only one strain isolated in this period was positioned in the distant cluster G1a. Further monitoring of the HPIV2 will determine whether cluster G3 will remain dominant or it will be overruled by cluster G1a. This will be important for the surveillance of virus circulation in population and significance of the viral infection. J. Med. Virol. 88:1733-1741, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genotype replacement of the human parainfluenza virus type 2 in Croatia between 2011 and 2017 – the role of neutralising antibodies

“…The procedure to obtain the sequences of the F and HN genes consisted of the virus isolation from each specimen on Vero cells in the presence of trypsin in order to decrease the number of mutations during cultivation in the cell culture as shown in [8]. A number of isolated viruses vs. obtained clinical specimen was: 5/5 (2011), 9/11 (2012), 2/6 (2014), 2/4 (2015), 17/18 (2016) and 3/3 (2017).…”

“…Isolation of viral RNA, amplification of the F and HN genes and Sanger sequencing of amplified segments. All procedures have been previously described in [8].…”

“…KT315667). HPIV2i/Zagreb.HR/ 42.14(1472) has been previously shown to belong to genotype G3 and HPIV2i/Zagreb.HR/47.14(1688) belongs to genotype G1a [8].…”

“…A total of 38 HPIV2 specimens were collected from hospitalised patients in Zagreb, Croatia, in period 2011-2017: 16 isolates from period 2011 to 2014 were previously described in [8] and the new 22 isolates have been collected and isolated in the period 2015-2017. The age distribution for each season (Fig.…”

“…Thus the diagnosis is missing making it difficult to follow the genetic variation and evolution of the HPIV2. There are very few studies on the evolution and phylogenetic analysis of this virus [6–8]. These phylogenetic analyses identified four genotypes (G1-4).…”