Presence of the new human metapneumovirus in French children with bronchiolitis.
We developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect human metapneumovirus (hMPV) in French children hospitalized for acute respiratory tract disease during the winter of 2001 to 2002. This assay showed that 19 (6.6%) of 337 respiratory specimens that were negative for other respiratory viruses were positive for hMPV. Seven hMPV infections were also detected in the previous winter. The patients had the following clinical syndromes: bronchiolitis, 16; acute exacerbation of asthma, 4; bronchitis, 1; laryngitis, 1; high fever with diarrhea, 2; high fever with rhinopharyngitis, 1; rhinopharyngitis with conjunctivitis and otitis, 1. The sequences of the seven amplified products were similar for all cases and had 99% homology with the previously described N gene sequence.
Freymouth
François
F
Laboratory of Human and Molecular Virology, Caen University Hospital, France.
Vabret
Astrid
A
Legrand
Loic
L
Eterradossi
Nicolas
N
Lafay-Delaire
Françoise
F
Brouard
Jacques
J
Guillois
Bernard
B
D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D002648:Child; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D029121:Metapneumovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018184:Paramyxoviridae Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology