Archive | 2021
Molecular Typing and Epidemiology Profiles of Human Metapneumovirus Infection Among Children With Severe Acute Respiratory Infection in Huzhou, China
Abstract
\n Background: Severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) threaten human health and cause a large number of hospitalized patients every year. However, as one of the most common pathogen that cause acute respiratory tract infection, the molecular epidemiological information relating to hMPV among patients with SARI is limited. Here, we evaluate the epidemiological and molecular characteristics of hMPV infections among children hospitalized patients with SARI from January 2016 to December 2020 in Huzhou, China.Methods: From January 2016 to December 2020, a total of 1133 nasopharyngeal swabs collected from children inpatients with SARI were screened for hMPV by real-time PCR. All samples that tested positive for hMPV were further typed by sequencing partial sequences of hexon gene. Genotypes of hMPV were confirmed by phylogenetic analysis. Epidemiological data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and service solutions (SPSS) 21.0 software.Results: 56 (4.94%) samples were positive for hMPV, children under 5 years old accounted for 85.71% (48/56) of the infections. Higher activity of hMPV infection could be seen in the period in Spring and Winter. 3 different types of hMPV were identified in hospitalized SARI cases, with hMPV-B1 (42.86 %) was the most prevalent types, followed by HAdV-B2 (35.71 %) and hMPV-A1(21.42 %). The predominant genotypes of hMPV during our study period varied according to surveillance year. Overall, 1 type (hMPV-B1) were detected in 2016, 2 different types(hMPV-B1 and HAdV-A1) were detected in 2017, 3 different types(hMPV-B1, hMPV-B2 and hMPV-A1) were detected in 2018, 2 different types(hMPV-B1 and hMPV-B2) were detected in 2019, 1 type (hMPV-B2) were detected in 2020.Conclusions: This study revealed the prevalence and the molecular epidemiological characteristics of hMPV infections among children hospitalized patients with SARI in Huzhou from January 2016 to December 2020. The hMPV prevalence is related to age and season. As the most prevalent hMPV types, hMPV-B1 was co-circulating with other types and presented an alternate prevalence pattern.