iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.
iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.



Link to original content: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16023411/
Detection and pathogenicity of human metapneumovirus respiratory infection in pediatric Italian patients during a winter--spring season - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Jan;35(1):59-68.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2005.05.010. Epub 2005 Jul 14.

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

Antonella Sarasini  1 , Elena Percivalle, Francesca Rovida, Giulia Campanini, Emilia Genini, Maria Torsellini, Stefania Paolucci, Fausto Baldanti, Antonietta Marchi, M Grazia Revello, Giuseppe Gerna
Affiliations

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

Antonella Sarasini et al. J Clin Virol. 2006 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Some diagnostic, epidemiological and clinical features of the recently discovered human metapneumovirus remain to be investigated.

Objectives: To study the best approach for the diagnosis of human metapneumovirus infections by both conventional and molecular methods, along with the human metapneumovirus circulation rate in northern Italy and the severity of human metapneumovirus respiratory infections in a pediatric patient population.

Study design: Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were taken from 306 pediatric patients during the winter-spring season 2003-2004, and examined for conventional respiratory viruses by direct fluorescent staining and cell culture, while human coronavirus and human metapneumovirus were sought by RT-PCR.

Results: RT-PCR detected human metapneumovirus in 40/306 (13.1%) children positive for respiratory viruses, with an incidence intermediate between that of respiratory syncytial virus (58 patients, 18.9%) and that of influenzavirus infections (29 patients, 9.5%). Phylogenetic analysis showed cocirculation of both human metapneumovirus types (A and B) as well as their relevant subtypes (A1-A2 and B1-B2). Clinically, human metapneumovirus was found to be second to human respiratory syncytial virus alone, as a cause of respiratory tract infections, while duration of virus excretion appeared to correlate with severity of infection, and virus load in NPA with the stage of respiratory infection.

Conclusion: (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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Kinetics of human metapneumovirus growth in LLC-MK2 cells following infection at an MOI of 5. Viral RNA detection by RT-PCR. Lane 1: virus inoculum; lanes 2–4: 6, 12, and 18 h p.i.; lanes 5–8: 24, 36, 48, and 72 h p.i.; lane 9: positive control; lane 10: negative control; lanes 11 and 12: human metapneumovirus plasmid 1000 and 100 copies, respectively. (B) Following 2 h adsorption and extensive washings, virus was titered in parallel on serial tenfold dilutions by both RNA semiquantitation and infectivity (TCID50). At day 14, the same peak titers of ∼7.5 log10 RNA copies/ml and ∼7.5 TCID50/ml were detected by both RNA and CPE, respectively. Thus, the peak RNA titer was detected more than a week in advance with respect to infectivity titer.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic analysis of human metapneumovirus strains circulating in northern Italy in the winter–spring season 2003–2004. The tree was constructed based on the partial gene N sequencing, and was generated by means of the neighbour-joining method. Branch lengths are drawn to scale. Bootstrap values (100 replicates) are indicated to show consistency of tree topology. Genotypes and subtypes are indicated. The prototype reference strains are reported in boldface, while each oval includes strains belonging to one of the four subtypes. CAN, strains from Canada; NL, strains from the Netherlands; I-PV, strains of the study from Pavia, Italy.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Incidence of different respiratory virus infections in 306 pediatric patients admitted to hospital in the winter–spring season 2003–2004. Numbers at the top of each histogram indicate the absolute number of patients.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Distribution of respiratory virus infections by month in a pediatric patient population in the winter–spring season 2003–2004.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Comparison of the relative proportions of patients infected by human metapneumovirus and human respiratory syncytial virus. Patients admitted to the Emergency Department: (A) number of inpatients/total number of patients; (B) number of inpatients/total number of patients with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI); (C) number of inpatients/total number of patients with double infections.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Allard A., Girones R., Juto P., Wadell G. Polymerase chain reaction for detection of adenoviruses in stool samples. J Clin Microbiol. 1991;28:2659–2667. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bastien N., Ward D., Van Caeseele P., Brandt K., Lee S.H.S., McNabb G. Human metapneumovirus infection in the Canadian population. J Clin Microbiol. 2003;41:4642–4646. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blutt S.E., Kirkwood C.D., Parreňo V., Warfield K.L., Ciarlet M., Estes M.K. Rotavirus antigenaemia and viraemia: a common event? Lancet. 2003;362:1445–1449. - PubMed
    1. Boivin G., Abed Y., Pelletier G., Ruel L., Moisan D., Côté S. Virological features and clinical manifestations associated with human metapneumovirus: a new paramyxovirus responsible for acute respiratory-tract infections in all age groups. J Infect Dis. 2002;186:1330–1334. - PubMed
    1. Boivin G., Mackay I., Sloots T.P., Madhi S., Freymuth F., Wolf D. Global genetic diversity of human metapneumovirus fusion gene. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004;10:1154–1157. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources