Virological Surveillance and Molecular Characterization of Human Parainfluenzavirus Infection in Children with Acute Respiratory Illness: Germany, 2015-2019.

Djin-Ye Oh,Brunhilde Schweiger,Ralf Dürrwald,Barbara Biere,Markus Grenz,Janine Reiche,Thorsten Wolff

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9071508

Djin-Ye Oh, Brunhilde Schweiger + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9071508

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Journal: Microorganisms	Publication Date: Jul 14, 2021
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Robert Koch Institute

Abstract

Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) are important causes of respiratory illness, especially in young children. However, surveillance for HPIV is rarely performed continuously, and national-level epidemiologic and genetic data are scarce. Within the German sentinel system, to monitor acute respiratory infections (ARI), 4463 respiratory specimens collected from outpatients < 5 years of age between October 2015 and September 2019 were retrospectively screened for HPIV 1–4 using real-time PCR. HPIV was identified in 459 (10%) samples. HPIV-3 was the most common HPIV-type, with 234 detections, followed by HPIV-1 (113), HPIV-4 (61), and HPIV-2 (49). HPIV-3 was more frequently associated with age < 2 years, and HPIV-4 was more frequently associated with pneumonia compared to other HPIV types. HPIV circulation displayed distinct seasonal patterns, which appeared to vary by type. Phylogenetic characterization clustered HPIV-1 in Clades 2 and 3. Reclassification was performed for HPIV-2, provisionally assigning two distinct HPIV-2 groups and six clades, with German HPIV-2s clustering in Clade 2.4. HPIV-3 clustered in C1, C3, C5, and, interestingly, in A. HPIV-4 clustered in Clades 2.1 and 2.2. The results of this study may serve to inform future approaches to diagnose and prevent HPIV infections, which contribute substantially to ARI in young children in Germany.

Highlights

Human parainfluenzaviruses (HPIVs) are important respiratory pathogens, which are second only to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as a cause of hospitalization for respiratory illness among infants and young children [1,2,3,4]
Among outpatients < 18 years with influenza-like illness (ILI) studied over a 5-year period in the United States, an HPIV test prevalence of 9% was found [54], and 8% of pediatric outpatients < 5 years with acute respiratory infections (ARI) surveyed in Beijing, China, were positive for HPIV 1–4 [55]
HPIV infection is common among pediatric outpatients with acute respiratory infections in Germany

Summary

Introduction

Human parainfluenzaviruses (HPIVs) are important respiratory pathogens, which are second only to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as a cause of hospitalization for respiratory illness among infants and young children [1,2,3,4]. HPIVs are enveloped, negative, single-stranded RNA viruses of the Paramyxoviridae family. Their genome has an approximate length of 15,500 nucleotides and encodes six proteins. HPIVs fall into four distinct types, which vary by their genetic and antigenic characteristics. HPIV-1 and -2 are the leading cause of croup, of which HPIV-1 is the most common etiologic agent [15]. HPIV-3, generally considered the most virulent HPIV type, is a frequent cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young

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