Picornavirus infections in children diagnosed by RT-PCR during longitudinal surveillance with weekly sampling: Association with symptomatic illness and effect of season

Abstract

RT-PCR is more sensitive for rhinovirus detection than cell culture, but healthy controls are frequently rhinovirus (or picornavirus) positive in cross-sectional studies. Fifteen healthy children were followed over at least three seasons of the year with weekly sampling of nasal/nasopharyngeal secretion for RT-PCR testing for picornavirus and daily recording of respiratory symptoms. One sample positive for picornavirus was diagnosed as an infection; consecutive positive weekly samples constituted a single infection. Picornavirus illness was diagnosed if RNA was detected 7 days prior through 21 days after onset. One hundred fifty-five (21%) of 740 weekly samples were picornavirus positive and associated with illness; 37(5%) positives were not associated with illness (P = 0.001). The 192 positive samples occurred in 121 infections, 74 with a single positive and 47 with "runs" of positives in two or more consecutive samples. Forty five (96%) of the 47 runs comprised 2 or 3 consecutive positives. Ninety six (52%) of 185 reported illnesses during 235 child-months were picornavirus positive (0.4/child-month); 25 infections were asymptomatic (0.11/child-month). The infection rate was highest in fall (0.66/child-month); the winter rate (0.44/child-month) was similar to that in spring (0.5) and summer (0.43). Picornavirus infections in healthy children were common (0.51/child-month), episodic, and usually associated with brief illness; one fifth of infections were asymptomatic. The infection rate was highest in fall; infections in winter occurred at the same rate as in spring and summer.

Duration of Rhinovirus Shedding in the Upper Respiratory Tract in the First Year of Life

“…Dr Loeffelholz co-conceptualized and co-designed the study and wrote the initial manuscript; Dr Trujillo coordinated data collection; Dr Pyles conceptualized and supervised molecular virology studies and reviewed and revised the manuscript; Mr Miller performed molecular virology studies and provided interpretation of the data for inclusion in the manuscript; Dr Alvarez-Fernandez supervised data collection; Dr Pong performed molecular virology studies and performed data collection and analysis; Dr Chonmaitree conceptualized and designed the study, provided overall study supervision, and revised the manuscript; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. 4,5 A study in adult volunteers showed that cultivatable rhinoviruses were routinely recovered for ∼2 weeks after infection. 6 Recurrent rhinovirus infection has been described in patients with asthma 7 and in those at risk of developing asthma.…”

“…1 Recent studies have shown an increasing prevalence of asymptomatic rhinovirus infections. [2][3][4] Picornavirus nucleic acids are typically shed from the upper respiratory tract for 1 to 3 weeks after infection. 4,5 A study in adult volunteers showed that cultivatable rhinoviruses were routinely recovered for ∼2 weeks after infection.…”

“…[2][3][4] Picornavirus nucleic acids are typically shed from the upper respiratory tract for 1 to 3 weeks after infection. 4,5 A study in adult volunteers showed that cultivatable rhinoviruses were routinely recovered for ∼2 weeks after infection. 6 Recurrent rhinovirus infection has been described in patients with asthma 7 and in those at risk of developing asthma.…”

Human Rhinovirus Infection of Epithelial Cells Modulates Airway Smooth Muscle Migration

“…Pre-school age children have been shown to experience approximately six HRV infections each year (13), and serial HRV infections can cause recurrent wheezing episodes (14). Given the concomitant time frame of recurrent HRV-induced wheezing episodes and the development of airway remodeling, it is feasible that HRV infections could contribute to the initiation and progression of airway 4 remodeling in asthma.…”

Surveillance for infectious myonecrosis virus in Indian shrimp aquaculture

“…They followed the same protocol as suggested by OIE (Baumgartner et al, 2009). The same RT-PCR method has evidently proven its sensitivity in the case of longitudinal surveillance survey of human picornavirus infection in children with weekly sampling protocol (Winther et al, 2006). Griffiths and Melville (2000), also utilised RT-PCR to visualise the presence of infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) in gill mucus of Atlantic salmon parr according to OIE guidelines (Griffiths and Melville, 2000).…”