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Epidemiologic characteristics and seasonal distribution of human metapneumovirus infections in five epidemic seasons in Stockholm, Sweden, 2002–2006
Author(s) -
Rafiefard Farideh,
Yun ZhiBing,
Örvell Claes
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.21242
Subject(s) - human metapneumovirus , virology , metapneumovirus , virus , outbreak , genotype , biology , respiratory system , respiratory tract infections , gene , biochemistry , anatomy
The presence of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) was analyzed retrospectively by reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) in five epidemic seasons, in Stockholm, 2002–2006. The occurrence of hMPV was compared with five common respiratory viruses; respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A virus, influenza B virus, parainfluenza virus and adenovirus. With a detection rate of 2.9% (n = 143/4,989) in nasopharyngeal samples over the whole period, hMPV was the fourth most common respiratory virus after RSV, influenza A and parainfluenza virus. hMPV genotype A dominated over genotype B, out of 91 genotyped virus samples 87 belonged to genotype A and four belonged to genotype B. Approximately 50.3% (n = 72/143) of the hMPV positive patients were <3 years, 49.7% (71/143) were ≥3 years and 38,5% (n = 55/143) were <1 year. The relative frequencies of hMPV infections in the three age groups were 2.8% (72/2,579), 2.9% (71/2,410) and 2.6% (55/2,122), respectively. This age distribution differed from RSV, influenza A, B and parainfluenza virus. hMPV epidemics peaked in March, not coincident with RSV or parainfluenza virus. In successive epidemic seasons, large outbreaks of hMPV alternated with small outbreaks in a regular, biannual pattern. Large hMPV virus epidemics were anticyclical to large RSV epidemics. It is concluded that the epidemiology of hMPV differs markedly from other common respiratory viruses. J. Med. Virol. 80:1631–1638, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.