High Prevalence of Human Metapneumovirus Infection in Young Children and Genetic Heterogeneity of the Viral Isolates

Abstract

RNA of the newly identified human metapneumovirus (HMPV) was detected in nasopharyngeal aspirates of 11 of 63 (17.5%) young children with respiratory tract disease. Markers of infection caused by another member of the Pneumovirinae subfamily of the family Paramyxoviridae, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), were identified in 15 of these patients (23.8%). Three patients were simultaneously infected with HMPV and RSV. Studies of the clinical characteristics of HMPV-infected children did not reveal any difference between HMPV-infected patients and a control population of RSV-infected patients with regard to disease severity, but the duration of symptoms was significantly shorter for HMPV-infected patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the amplified viral genome fragments confirmed the existence and simultaneous circulation within one epidemic season of HMPV isolates belonging to two genetic lineages.Recently, a new infectious agent, human metapneumovirus (HMPV), was isolated from nasopharyngeal aspirates of young children with respiratory tract illness from The Netherlands (7). HMPV, together with avian pneumovirus serotypes A, B, C, and D, form the Metapneumovirus genus of the Pneumovirinae subfamily of the family Paramyxoviridae (7,8). Information on the biology of HMPV, as well as on the prevalence and clinical significance of HMPV infection, is scarce. Preliminary data, however, demonstrated that HMPV can cause severe respiratory disease in children younger than age 5 years (2, 3, 4, 6, 7). These observations suggest that HMPV can play an important role in the infectious pathology of humans and indicate the necessity of more detailed study of this agent and infections caused by this agent. Here, we report on the prevalence and clinical characteristics of HMPV infection in children with respiratory disease from Germany and on the genetic heterogeneity of the HMPV isolates identified. MATERIALS AND METHODSSpecimens. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from 63 hospitalized patients younger than age 2 years. These patients represented all children in this age group admitted to the Essen University Hospital with upper or lower respiratory tract infection between January and May 2002. Most of these patients presented with wheezing and/or signs of respiratory distress (Table 1). The clinical data for the HMPV-infected patients were compared to those for a control group of children from the same population infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR for HMPV RNA. RNA was extracted from nasopharyngeal aspirates with the RNeasy kit (QIAGEN) and reverse transcribed and amplified with two primer sets. Information on the first set, which included two primers whose sequences were derived from the L gene and which generated a DNA fragment of 171 bp, was kindly provided by van den Hoogen et al. (7). The second set was designed in the present study. It included four primers whose sequences were derived from the nucleocapsid (N) gene. Primer 750as (5Ј-TGCTTTGCTGCCTGTAGATGATGAG) was used to gene...

The Role of Human Metapneumovirus in Pediatric Respiratory Tract Infection in Qatar

“…The rate of dual infection in our study population was similar to that observed in the Spanish study (26%) [29]. While data from other reports suggest that dual infection with hMPV and other respiratory viruses is rare (68-71) [6,29,30], both this study and the Spanish study [29] have demonstrated relatively high co-infection rates.…”

“…While data from other reports suggest that dual infection with hMPV and other respiratory viruses is rare (68-71) [6,29,30], both this study and the Spanish study [29] have demonstrated relatively high co-infection rates. Taking into account our observations on the occurrence of dual infections caused by both hMPV and other viruses, one might presume that a preselection of patients negative for other respiratory viruses could lead to an underestimation of the true incidence of hMPV infection.…”

Frequency of human metapneumovirus infection in hematopoietic SCT recipients during 3 consecutive years

“…Since then, hMPV has been identified worldwide and co-circulation of different hMPV genotypes can occur in the same geographical area. 2,3 So far, real-time PCR has been the preferred diagnostic method to detect hMPV.…”

Human Metapneumovirus Circulation in the United States, 2008 to 2014

“…Also, many studies have demonstrated that HMPV causes a respiratory tract infection clinically indistinguishable from infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza. [1][2][3][4][5] In contrast, the specific prevention options and some populations severely affected vary for HMPV, RSV, and influenza. 7 Currently there is no vaccine for HMPV.…”

“…[2][3][4][5] Infection with HMPV has been associated with an estimated 20 000 U.S. hospitalizations annually among children aged <5 years. 6 However, the infrequent testing and low index of suspicion associated with HMPV may have limited the assessment of temporal trends in HMPV circulation.…”