Abstract
Respiratory tract infection is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially among young children. Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) have only recently been shown to cause both lower and upper respiratory tract infections. To date, five coronaviruses (HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, SARS-CoV, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV HKU-1) that infect humans have been identified, four of which (HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU-1) circulate continuously in the human population. Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) was first isolated from the aspirate from a 7-month-old baby in early 2004. Infection with HCoV-NL63 has since been shown to be a common worldwide occurrence and has been associated with many clinical symptoms and diagnoses, including severe lower respiratory tract infection, croup and bronchiolitis. HCoV-NL63 causes disease in children, the elderly and the immunocompromised, and has been detected in 1.0–9.3% of respiratory tract infections in children. In this article, the current knowledge of human coronavirus HCoV-NL63, with special reference to the clinical features, prevalence and seasonal incidence, and coinfection with other respiratory viruses, will be discussed.
Highlights
This study shows large year-to-year differences in the frequency of Human coronavirus (HCoV)-NL63 infections, with results indicating an interepidemic period of 2 years [5]
HCoV-NL63 infections vary in frequency between years, but appear to peak during the winter months
The high prevalence of coinfections of HCoV-NL63 and other respiratory viruses increases the chances of genetic recombination between these viruses in the host
Summary
The recent devel opment of the first full-length infectious clone of HCoV-NL63 allows for the systematic experi mental study – genes can be modified and/or deleted from the genome – of the functions of the various corresponding HCoV-NL63 pro teins, which will lead to a better understanding of the role of the viral genes in infectivity and pathogenicity This manipulation of the virus genome, in turn, provides a reverse genetics platform that can lead to the development of HCoV-NL63-based vector vaccines [76]
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