Seroprevalence of human metapneumovirus in Japan.
A new human pneumovirus, provisionally designated human metapneumovirus, was discovered by Dutch researchers. We examined 142 serum samples from the general population aged from 1 month to 35 years in Japan for human metapneumovirus antibody by indirect immunofluorescence assays using human metapneumovirus-infected monkey kidney cells. The overall prevalence of human metapneumovirus infection was 72.5%. The seropositive rate was lowest in the age group of 6 months to 1 year and gradually increased with age. All of the children had been exposed to human metapneumovirus by the age of 10 years. The results show that human metapneumovirus is circulating in the Japanese population and is a ubiquitous virus acquired early in life.
Ebihara
Takashi
T
Department of Pediatrics, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
Endo
Rika
R
Kikuta
Hideaki
H
Ishiguro
Nobuhisa
N
Yoshioka
Mikio
M
Ma
Xiaoming
X
Kobayashi
Kunihiko
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D029121:Metapneumovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D018184:Paramyxoviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000914:Antibodies, Viral