ABSTRACT
Background: Human metapneumovirus (HMPV), discovered in the 21st century, has emerged as an important cause of influenza‑like illness in children and adults causing mild upper respiratory tract infection to severe bronchiolitis and community‑associated pneumonia. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HMPV in the Union Territory of Puducherry, India, as part of National Influenza Surveillance Programme. Materials and Methods: From November 2011 to December 2013, a total of 447 nasopharyngeal samples were collected from patients with acute respiratory infections and tested for HMPV RNA by real‑time polymerase chain reaction. Results: HMPV was identified in 23/447 (5%) samples with 11/23 in the age group of 14–30 years. Most of the HMPV infections were mild with no fatalities. Two patients were co‑infected with the respiratory syncytial virus and one with influenza B virus. The seasonal distribution showed increasing HMPV infection cases in rainy months except for a peak in summer of 2012. Phylogenetic analysis based on the sequences of the nucleoprotein gene of one HMPV strain showed a high degree of sequence identity with Indian strains obtained during 2006 and 2011. Conclusion: This study shows that HMPV infection is more common in adults than in children. Sequence homology suggests the circulation of closely related HMPV strains within the country.
ABSTRACT
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant cause of contagious acute respiratory infections in children and older adults. Since there are contradictory reports regarding the efficacy of different methods to detect RSV, we evaluated the performance of the conventional PCR versus real‑time PCR in 222 patients with acute respiratory infections (ARI) recruited between January 2012 and March 2013. Conventional PCR had a very poor sensitivity of 40% (95% CI: 19.2-63.9%) and failed to detect RSV in respiratory samples with low viral load. Thus, it may be prudent to replace it with real‑time PCR to achieve precise diagnosis.