title: Novel respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) genotype ON1 predominates in Germany during winter season 2012-13.
abstract: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of hospitalization especially in young children with respiratory tract infections (RTI). Patterns of circulating RSV genotypes can provide a better understanding of the molecular epidemiology of RSV infection. We retrospectively analyzed the genetic diversity of RSV infection in hospitalized children with acute RTI admitted to University Hospital Heidelberg/Germany between October 2012 and April 2013. Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were routinely obtained in 240 children younger than 2 years of age who presented with clinical symptoms of upper or lower RTI. We analyzed NPAs via PCR and sequence analysis of the second variable region of the RSV G gene coding for the attachment glycoprotein. We obtained medical records reviewing routine clinical data. RSV was detected in 134/240 children. In RSV-positive patients the most common diagnosis was bronchitis/bronchiolitis (75.4%). The mean duration of hospitalization was longer in RSV-positive compared to RSV-negative patients (3.5 vs. 5.1 days; p<0.01). RSV-A was detected in 82.1%, RSV-B in 17.9% of all samples. Phylogenetic analysis of 112 isolates revealed that the majority of RSV-A strains (65%) belonged to the novel ON1 genotype containing a 72-nucleotide duplication. However, genotype ON1 was not associated with a more severe course of illness when taking basic clinical/laboratory parameters into account. Molecular characterization of RSV confirms the co-circulation of multiple genotypes of subtype RSV-A and RSV-B. The duplication in the G gene of genotype ON1 might have an effect on the rapid spread of this emerging RSV strain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tabatabai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology and Immunobiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prifert
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; German Centre for Infectious Diseases (DZIF), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pfeil
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grulich-Henn
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schnitzler
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D018113:Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D012621:Seasons; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins