Detection of Human Metapneumovirus in Hospitalized Children with Acute Respiratory Tract Infections in Sulaimani Province, Iraq

Abstract

Background: Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a member of Paramyxoviridae family. It is an important viral pathogen of respiratory tract infections among children. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the incidence of hMPV infections among children less than 5 years of age with respiratory tract infections at the pediatric hospital in Sulaimani city of Iraq. Also, this study aims to evaluate the different diagnostic methods for the detection of this virus.Method: Nasopharyngeal swabs and throat swabs were collected from 300 hospitalized children with respiratory infections under 5 years of age between April 2011 and March 2012. Each sample was used for hMPV detection by conventional reverse transcriptase (RT-PCR) and direct fluorescent assay (DFA). A questionnaire which was designed for acute respiratory tract infections among hospitalized children was also included. Results:Human Metapneumovirus was detected in 16% by RT-PCR and 14.7% by DFA. Autumn -winter period was the most common season for hMPV infections with its peak occurrence in January and February.Conclusions: hMPV is an important pathogen associated with RTIs in children. RT-PCR is highly sensitive and specific for the detection of hMPV than antigen detection methods used for the diagnosis of hMPV viruses.

Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Human Metapneumovirus in Children with Respiratory Tract Infection by Use Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

“…Fever is generally more widespread among children with respiratory tract infection, this result in agreement with previous study done by Aziz et al, (2015) reported fever and wheezing were more common clinical sign in children with hMPV [14]. While Ji Wang, et al, (2009) found fever, cough, and rhinorrhea were more common than other signs.…”

“…Data obtained from this study indicate that most positive patients of RSV from urban area and exactly 39(72.22%), (Table 2), this result which agreed to similar study that has reported increased infections in Kurdistan region of Iraq [32]. In contrast, this result disagreed with a study done by Aziz (2015) to detect hMPV [14]. The reason of high prevalence in the urban residence could be related to crowded and bad hygiene in the large cities.…”

“…In Iraq, several studies have been conducted in various provinces to identify these viruses such as study done by Al-Mola et al (2013) in Hilla city [13], Aziz (2015) in Sulaimani city [14], Al-Ameedy (2016) in Najaf city [15], Al-Charrakh et al (2016) in Wasit province [16], Al-Mossawi et al (2016) in Al-Amarah City [17] and finally Atyah et al (2017) in Baghdad city [18]. This study design to investigate of co infection between RSV and hMPV in children under five year's age.…”

Molecular study of human metapneumovirus among patients with respiratory tract infections in Diyala province

“…Furthermore, the HMPV positivity rate was significantly higher during season II compared to season I. it is definitely recognized that respiratory tract infections are one of the biggest health problems experienced by Iraqi health authorities, particularly among infants and children. However, limited studies were conducted in Iraq concerning the rate of HMPV infection, for instance, in Baghdad, two studies were reported controversial rates of hMPV (1.33% and 16%) respectively, while in Iraqi-Kurdistan, the rate of HMPV infection among children suffering from respiratory diseases and flu-like illness was high as compared with the results of current study (13.4% to 29.74%) (19,20,21,22) . Undoubtedly, Studies from around the world had yielded variable detection rates of HMPV, for example in Bangkok, Pakistan, Norway and Brazil, the HMPV was detected among hospitalized children with RTIs in (3.6%, 7%, 7.3% and 20%) respectively (23,24,25,26) .…”

“…In Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia, a higher detection rate of HMPV was documented in March 2012, April and November 2013 (31) . Previous studies from Egypt, Kurdistan, and Pakistan, showed that the majority of hMPV infection was detected in the winter months with peak rates in February (32,19,33) .The high detection rates of HMPV during the second season may be partly due to the sharp change in climate and to the type of collected specimens.…”