Contribution of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus to community cases of influenza-like illness: an observational study

Molecular epidemiology and genetic variability of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Stockholm, 2002–2003

“…In all 12 patients, sequences from the sequential sampling were identical and no genetic variation in the N-terminal region of the G gene could be demonstrated during the phase of illness. International data from molecular epidemiological studies of RSV are derived from long-term studies with 100 or more isolates [Peret et al, 1998;Choi and Lee, 2000;Seki et al, 2001;Venter et al, 2001;Scott et al, 2004;Kuroiwa et al, 2005;Sato et al, 2005;Viegas and Mistchenko, 2005], from long-term studies with a more limited number if isolates [Cane et al, 1994;Garcia et al, 1994;Zambon et al, 2001;Venter et al, 2002;Frabasile et al, 2003;Rafiefard et al, 2004;Galiano et al, 2005;Parveen et al, 2006], and also from shortterm studies like this one from Stockholm [Peret et al, 2000;Moura et al, 2004]. This study provides data from a complete season.…”

“…The epidemiology and the genetic diversity of RSV have been studied in many parts of the world, among them, the Gambia [Cane et al, 1999], Korea [Choi and Lee, 2000], Uruguay and Argentina [Frabasile et al, 2003], Argentina [Galiano et al, 2005], Japan [Kuroiwa et al, 2005;Sato et al, 2005], South Africa [Venter et al, 2001;Venter et al, 2002;Madhi et al, 2003], Brazil [Moura et al, 2004], India [Parveen et al, 2006], USA [Peret et al, 1998;Peret et al, 2000], Kenya [Scott et al, 2004], Great Britain [Zambon et al, 2001], and Belgium [Zlateva et al, 2005]. At least three studies from Europe have been published during the past decade.…”

“…At least three studies from Europe have been published during the past decade. Subgroup A was studied in Sweden between 1965 and 2003 (47 strains) [Rafiefard et al, 2004], subgroup B was studied between 1982 and 2004 in Belgium [Zlateva et al, 2005], and, as a part of an observational study of influenza and RSV in the community, the molecular epidemiology of RSV was examined in the UK from 1995 to 1998 [Zambon et al, 2001].…”

“…It is only possible to differentiate new strains by sequencing the C-terminal, such as the RSV subgroup B strains with the 60 nucleotide duplication [Trento et al, 2003]. One of the few published European studies including a large number of strains (73) investigated the N-terminal part of the G gene in samples from 1995 to 1998 [Zambon et al, 2001]. To be able to compare Swedish RSV strains with data from Great Britain, the N-terminal part of the genome was sequenced in the present study.…”

“…The aim was to study the molecular epidemiology of RSV during one season and to compare the findings with the latest European study [Zambon et al, 2001], as well as with other international studies. All RSVpositive respiratory samples (234) in the laboratory from the season 2002-2003 were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed in order to study the epidemiology of circulating RSV in Stockholm.…”