title: High prevalence of human metapneumovirus infection in young children and genetic heterogeneity of the viral isolates.
abstract: RNA of the newly identified human metapneumovirus (HMPV) was detected in nasopharyngeal aspirates of 11 of 63 (17.5%) young children with respiratory tract disease. Markers of infection caused by another member of the Pneumovirinae subfamily of the family Paramyxoviridae, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), were identified in 15 of these patients (23.8%). Three patients were simultaneously infected with HMPV and RSV. Studies of the clinical characteristics of HMPV-infected children did not reveal any difference between HMPV-infected patients and a control population of RSV-infected patients with regard to disease severity, but the duration of symptoms was significantly shorter for HMPV-infected patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the amplified viral genome fragments confirmed the existence and simultaneous circulation within one epidemic season of HMPV isolates belonging to two genetic lineages.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Essen University Hospital, D-45122 Essen, Germany. sergei.viazov@uni-essen.de
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Viazov
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ratjen
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scheidhauer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiedler
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roggendorf
mesh_terms: D014644:Genetic Variation; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D029121:Metapneumovirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000821:virology; D018184:Paramyxoviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA