Detection of four human coronaviruses in respiratory infections in children in Fuzhou, China

Abstract

Objective In this study, we tested for the presence of four human coronaviruses (HCoVs) in children with respiratory tract disease in Fuzhou, Fujian, China. Methods Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children with respiratory tract disease from Nov, 2007 to Jan, 2015. A total of 266 clinical samples were tested for HCoVs using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The positive products were sequenced and compared with those in GenBank by BLAST. The positive samples were then tested for HCoV-HKU1 and HCoV-NL63 using RT-PCR method . We compared the 440 bp pol gene sequence of the 8 HCoV isolates in Fuzhou, China to other HCoV isolates documented in the GenBank database by using MEGA software version 6.06 and the neighbor-joining method . Results HCoVs were detected in 8 patients (3.0%) out of the 266 children. Two of 266 (0.38%) were positive for HCoV-HKU1; 1 of 266(0.38%)were positive for HCoV-NL63; 1 of 266 (0.38%) were positive for HCoV-229E; 4 of 266 (1.5%)were positive for HCoV-OC43. All of children who were positive for HCoV had respiratory illness. Two HCoV-HKU1 were found to co-infect with human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV-3). The 8 HCoV strains in our study fell into four clusters. Two strains of HCoV-HKU1 were genotype A. Conclusions HCoV infections were probably associated with upper and lower respiratory illness in children. Additional studies are needed to investigate the potential roles of these HCoVs in diseases. Key words: Respiratory tract infections; Human coronavirus; HCoV-HKU1; HCoV-NL63; HCoV-OC43; HCoV-229E