Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of human rhinovirus infection in hospitalized children in Tianjin / 中华检验医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the prevalence of human rhinovirus (HRV) infection in hospitalized children in Tianjin and investigate the clinical impact of HRV infections.Methods:From July 2017 to December 2019, 2 945 nasopharyngeal secretion specimens were screened for HRV using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). VP4/VP2 sequences of HRV were further characterized. The clinical characteristics of the HRV infection were analyzed. The detection results of HRV for different groups and different months were compared using SPSS 19.0.Results:HRV-positive specimens accounted for 8.15% (240/2 945), of which 74.78% (86/115) were diagnosed with pneumonia, 40.83%(98/240) had co-infections with other common pathogens. HRV infections could be detected throughout the year with peaks in spring (11.00%, 66/660) and autumn (9.29%, 81/872). The positive rate of HRV was 4.14%(29/700) in winter. By VP4/VP2 sequence analysis, HRV-A was the most frequently detected strain(50.00%, 78/156), followed by HRV-C (41.67%, 65/156).46.15% (30/65) of HRV-C infections occurred in October and November. There were several different HRV-A types and HRV-C types. The most commonly detected HRV-A types were A12(11.54%, 9/78), A49(6.41%, 5/78), A22, A101, and A66(5.13%, 4/78), etc. The most common HRV-C types were C2(20.00%, 13/65), C22(9.23%, 6/65), C26, C43, C54 and C53(4.62%,3/65). Patients with HRV-A infections are more likely to show fever symptoms than HRV-C (χ2=5.411, P<0.05). No significant difference in other symptoms were found between the two types. Conclusions:HRV was a commonly detected virus among infants and had a clear seasonal distribution. It′s also possible for the HRV patients to have co-infections with other pathogens.HRV showed high genetic diversity.