The Prevalence of Human Metapneumovirus among Children with Acute Respiratory Tract Infection in North Kordofan State, Sudan

Objective: To determine the prevalence of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) among children with acute respiratory tract infection and the correlation between (hMPV) and age group. Methods: This prospective, descriptive cross-sectional hospital-based study is carried out from January to May 2019 among children from under five years old who were admitted to El-Obeid pediatric teaching Hospital, North kordofan, Sudan with acute respiratory tract infection. Results: Fifty hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infection were enrolled in the study. Two of these (4%) were tested positive for (hMPV) in the age group (7 months - 2 years) old. Moreover, the study showed no significant correlation between infection with (hMPV) and age.

Characterization of human metapneumovirus from pediatric patients with acute respiratory infections in a 4-year period in Beijing, China

Background Human metapneumovirus （hMPV） was discovered by scientists in the Netherlands as a novel respiratory virus in 2001 and had been found in children with acute respiratory tract infections （ARTI） in China. The objective of this study was to determine the importance of hMPV infection in children in Beijing and the genotypes of the circulating virus by the surveillance during a four-consecutive-year period.

Clinical characteristics and molecular epidemiology of human metapneumovirus in children with acute lower respiratory tract infections in China, 2017 to 2019: A multicentre prospective observational study

Human metapneumovirus(HMPV) infection is one of the leading causes of hospitalization in young children with acute respiratory illness. In this study, we prospectively collected respiratory tract samples from children who were hospitalized with acute lower respiratory tract infection in six hospitals in China from 2017 to 2019. HMPV was detected in 145 out of 2733 samples(5.3%) from the hospitalized children. The majority of HMPV-positive children were under the age of two(67.6%), with a median age of one year. HMPV can independently cause acute lower respiratory tract infection in young children, while all patients showed mild clinical symptoms. Of all the co-infected patients, HMPV was most commonly detected with enterovirus(EV) or rhinovirus(RhV)(38.0%),followed by respiratory syncytial virus(RSV)(32.0%). The highest detection rate occurred from March to May in both northern and southern China. Out of 145 HMPV positive samples, 48 were successfully typed, of which 36strains were subgrouped into subtypes A2c(75%), eight strains were included in subtype B1(16.7%), and four strains were included in subtype B2(8.3%). Moreover, 16 A2c strains contained 111-nucleotide duplications in the G gene. Twenty-seven complete HMPV genomes were successfully obtained, and 25(92.6%) strains belonged to subtype A2c, whereas one strain was included in subgroup B1 and another was included in subgroup B2. A total of 277 mutations were observed in the complete genomes of 25 A2c strains. All results presented here improve our understanding of clinical characteristics and molecular epidemiology of HMPV infection in children.

In vitro and in vivo anti-HMPV activity of JH001 isolated from Chinese medicinal herbs

OBJECTIVE Human metapneumovirus(hMPV)is semblable to respiratory syncytial virus(RSV)which causes respiratory infections typically characterized by cough,runny nose,fever,and nasal congestion but sometimes progressing to bronchiolitis and pneumonia.Whereas,there is no corresponding drug to inhabit the virus.Studies of new compounds with potential anti-HMPV activity could produce clinical value.Chinese herbal medicine played a great role during COVID-19,therefore we choose some small molecular(JH001)extracted from botany to investigate therapeutic effect on hMPV and the underlying mechanisms.METHODS In this study,16HBE cells were used as a model to explore in vitro antiviral effect.Cytotoxicity assays were performed before the antiviral tests,cell viability of 16HBE cells handled by different concentration of JH001 was estimated by Cell Counting Kit-8(CCK-8).Then RT-qPCR,immunofluorescence,and flow cytometer were used to test the viral titer after cells infected with hMPV.Eventually,6-8 weeks mice were infected intranasally with 60μL of hMPV,the control group was treated with 0.9%saline water,other groups were administered with JH001 and ribavirin,then the lung virus titer and protective effect in lung were judged.RESULTS The obtained JH001 exhibited no cytotoxicity to 16HBE cells during 6.25-200μmol·L^(-1).RT-QPCR demonstrated that JH001 showed obvious inhabitation to the viral replication and showed great significance compared with saline.And fluorescence exhibited distinct decrease of hMPV-N protein,flow cytometer results showed that MFI decrease evidently.Significant reduction of N-gene expression was observed in those mice treated with JH001 compared with saline group,which indicated that JH001 probably had protective and therapeutic effect on viral replication.CONCLUSION This study illustrated that JH001 might be a promising option for small molecular against hMPV and JH001 might be worthy of further development and used as a potential therapeutic strategy for other respiratory viruses in the future.

从呼吸道标本中分离人偏肺病毒及病毒培养方法比较

目的从急性呼吸道感染患者的鼻咽拭子标本中分离人偏肺病毒(hMPV),同时利用分离株比较3种病毒培养方法,探索适合于临床病毒实验室分离培养hMPV的方法。方法接种55份经实时荧光定量PCR(real time-PCR)法检测为hMPV阳性的鼻咽拭子标本至Vero-E6细胞,连续盲传培养3代。每天观察细胞病变,结合real time-PCR和直接免疫荧光法(DFA)检测病毒的核酸复制和蛋白抗原,对分离株的G和F基因序列进行同源性分析。利用real time-PCR比较转鼓培养法、离心培养法和静置培养法3种方法hMPV的复制效率。结果从55份临床标本中分离鉴定出3株hMPV病毒(GZ/1/12、GZ/2/12、GZ/3/12),序列同源性分析显示3株临床分离株属于B型。hMPV病毒复制效率比较:转鼓培养法与离心培养法对hMPV复制效率相当,二者皆优于静置培养法。而离心培养法的操作更简便,更适用临床病毒实验室。结论成功分离鉴定出3株hMPV临床株,离心培养法更适合临床病毒实验室分离培养hMPV。