Impact of Human Rhinovirus Types and Viral Load on the Severity of Illness in Hospitalized Children With Lower Respiratory Tract Infections.
BACKGROUND
Human rhinovirus (HRV) is not only responsible for at least one-half of all common colds but also associated with bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia and acute asthma exacerbation. However, the impact of different HRV types and viral load on disease severity has not been thoroughly elucidated.


METHODS
From January 2012 to September 2014, 1742 nasopharyngeal aspirate specimens from hospitalized children with lower respiratory tract infections were analyzed by quantitative HRV-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction.


RESULTS
Among these 1742 children, HRV (407/1742, 23%) was the second most common viral agent after respiratory syncytial virus. HRV-A, HRV-B, HRV-C and HRV untyped were detected in 229 (56%), 27 (7%), 100 (25%) and 51 (13%) specimens, respectively. Children except who experienced wheezing were more common in the HRV-C detection group than in the HRV-A detection group; there were no other significant differences between the 2 groups, including the percent of children diagnosed with severe diseases. Logistic regression models demonstrated that there was no difference in disease severity among HRV types. In HRV-A detection group, in children younger than 2 years, the viral load was higher in the severe group than in the nonsevere group; but in the HRV-C detection group, there was no difference.


CONCLUSIONS
HRV was frequently present in hospitalized children with lower respiratory tract infections in Chongqing, China. The disease severity for HRV-C and HRV-A was similar. A high load of HRV-A in the lower respiratory tract might be connected with disease severity in children younger than 2 years.
From the *Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Key Laboratory of Pediatrics in Chongqing, Chongqing International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing, China; †Department of Respiratory Medicine, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China; and ‡Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Qiuyan
Q
Xiao
Shouyan
S
Zheng
Lili
L
Zhou
Luo
L
Ren
Xiaohong
X
Xie
Yu
Y
Deng
Daiyin
D
Tian
Yao
Y
Zhao
Zhou
Z
Fu
Tingyu
T
Li
Ailong
A
Huang
Enmei
E
Liu
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000821:virology; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012229:Rhinovirus; D019562:Viral Load / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*