Detection of human coronavirus strain HKU1 in a 2 years old girl with asthma exacerbation caused by acute pharyngitis

Razieh Amini,Zamberi Sekawi,Farid Azizi Jalilian,Fatemeh Jahanshiri,Yasaman Amini

doi:10.1186/1743-422x-9-142

Abstract

Respiratory viral infections can trigger asthma attack which may lead to sever morbidity. In this report, using molecular methods, we show the chronological association between human coronavirus - HKU1 infection and asthma exacerbation in a two years and seven months old asthmatic girl who was not under treatment and was otherwise healthy.

Highlights

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by hypersensitivity and inflammation of the airways with clinical symptoms of dyspnea, wheezing, coughing, reversible episodes of bronchoconstriction, shortening of breath, chronic eosinophilic inflammation, mucus hypersecretion and tightening of the chest [1,2]
HCoVs strains including 229E, OC43, NL63 and HKU1 have been shown to be associated with more severe acute lower respiratory tract infection such as pneumonia in both infants and immunocompromised patients [15,16]
It has been reported that all four strains of coronaviruses are associated with both URI and LRI in children and OC43 and NL63 strains are responsible for the most cases of bronchiolitis, pneumonia and asthma exacerbation in these patients [24]

Summary

Introduction

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by hypersensitivity and inflammation of the airways with clinical symptoms of dyspnea, wheezing, coughing, reversible episodes of bronchoconstriction, shortening of breath, chronic eosinophilic inflammation, mucus hypersecretion and tightening of the chest [1,2]. She was given one dose of Salbutamol nebulizer in a private clinic for her respiratory problem She had been diagnosed with bronchial asthma at the age of 18 months when she first presented with 2 episodes of wheezing and breathing difficulty following an upper respiratory infection which had responded well to the bronchodilator nebulization. She was diagnosed with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma due to acute pharyngitis with underlying moderate persistent asthma She was treated with regular Salbutamol nebulisation and a five day course of oral prednisolone. To exclude bacterial infections such as mycoplasma and chlamydia pneumonia, ELISA and bacterial culture were carried out on the patient’s samples which all yielded negative results

Discussion

Findings

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