Abstract
BackgroundHuman rhinovirus (HRV) is one of the major viruses of acute respiratory tract disease among infants and young children. This work aimed to understand the epidemiological and phylogenetic features of HRV in Guangzhou, China. In addition, the clinical characteristics of hospitalized children infected with different subtype of HRV was investigated.MethodsHospitalized children aged < 14 years old with acute respiratory tract infections were enrolled from August 2018 to December 2019. HRV was screened for by a real-time reverse-transcription PCR targeting the viral 5′UTR.ResultsHRV was detected in 6.41% of the 655 specimens. HRV infection was frequently observed in children under 2 years old (57.13%). HRV-A and HRV-C were detected in 18 (45%) and 22 (55%) specimens. All 40 HRV strains detected were classified into 29 genotypes. The molecular evolutionary rate of HRV-C was estimated to be 3.34 × 10–3 substitutions/site/year and was faster than HRV-A (7.79 × 10–4 substitutions/site/year). Children who experienced rhinorrhoea were more common in the HRV-C infection patients than HRV-A. The viral load was higher in HRV-C detection group than HRV-A detection group (p = 0.0148). The median peak symptom score was higher in patients with HRV-C infection as compared to HRV-A (p = 0.0543), even though the difference did not significance.ConclusionThis study revealed the molecular epidemiological characteristics of HRV in patients with respiratory infections in southern China. Children infected with HRV-C caused more severe disease characteristics than HRV-A, which might be connected with higher viral load in patients infected with HRV-C. These findings will provide valuable information for the pathogenic mechanism and treatment of HRV infection.
Highlights
Human rhinovirus (HRV) is one of the major viruses of acute respiratory tract disease among infants and young children
Recent studies suggest that the illness severity differs among HRV species [7, 8], and HRV-C has been shown more frequently associated with severe asthma attacks and lower respiratory tract infections compared with other HRV species [9,10,11]
HRV-A was identified in 42.9% of samples (18/42), HRV-C in 52.4% (22/42) and HRV-B was not identified
Summary
Human rhinovirus (HRV) is one of the major viruses of acute respiratory tract disease among infants and young children. Human rhinoviruses (HRV) are the most commonly encountered respiratory viruses and the most frequent causes of acute respiratory infections in young children and infants. HRV is generally associated with common cold and mild upper respiratory infections, but may lead to more severe lower respiratory tract illnesses, such as pneumonia, bronchiolitis and asthma [1, 2]. Recent studies suggest that the illness severity differs among HRV species [7, 8], and HRV-C has been shown more frequently associated with severe asthma attacks and lower respiratory tract infections compared with other HRV species [9,10,11]. Recently studies have shown that HRV-C is possibly more virulent and cause more severe illness [8, 12,13,14]
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