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      Human metapneumovirus: review of an important respiratory pathogen

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          Summary

          Human metapneumovirus (hMPV), discovered in 2001, most commonly causes upper and lower respiratory tract infections in young children, but is also a concern for elderly subjects and immune-compromised patients. hMPV is the major etiological agent responsible for about 5% to 10% of hospitalizations of children suffering from acute respiratory tract infections. hMPV infection can cause severe bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children, and its symptoms are indistinguishable from those caused by human respiratory syncytial virus. Initial infection with hMPV usually occurs during early childhood, but re-infections are common throughout life. Due to the slow growth of the virus in cell culture, molecular methods (such as reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR)) are the preferred diagnostic modality for detecting hMPV. A few vaccine candidates have been shown to be effective in preventing clinical disease, but none are yet commercially available. Our understanding of hMPV has undergone major changes in recent years and in this article we will review the currently available information on the molecular biology and epidemiology of hMPV. We will also review the current therapeutic interventions and strategies being used to control hMPV infection, with an emphasis on possible approaches that could be used to develop an effective vaccine against hMPV.

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          A newly discovered human pneumovirus isolated from young children with respiratory tract disease

          From 28 young children in the Netherlands, we isolated a paramyxovirus that was identified as a tentative new member of the Metapneumovirus genus based on virological data, sequence homology and gene constellation. Previously, avian pneumovirus was the sole member of this recently assigned genus, hence the provisional name for the newly discovered virus: human metapneumovirus. The clinical symptoms of the children from whom the virus was isolated were similar to those caused by human respiratory syncytial virus infection, ranging from upper respiratory tract disease to severe bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Serological studies showed that by the age of five years, virtually all children in the Netherlands have been exposed to human metapneumovirus and that the virus has been circulating in humans for at least 50 years.
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            Human metapneumovirus and lower respiratory tract disease in otherwise healthy infants and children.

            We sought to determine the role of human metapneumovirus in lower respiratory tract illness in previously healthy infants and children. We tested nasal-wash specimens, obtained over a 25-year period from otherwise healthy children presenting with acute respiratory tract illness, for human metapneumovirus. A viral cause other than human metapneumovirus was determined for 279 of 687 visits for acute lower respiratory tract illness (41 percent) by 463 children in a population of 2009 infants and children prospectively seen from 1976 to 2001. There were 408 visits for lower respiratory tract illness by 321 children for which no cause was identified. Of these 321 children, specimens from 248 were available. Forty-nine of these 248 specimens (20 percent) contained human metapneumovirus RNA or viable virus. Thus, 20 percent of all previously virus-negative lower respiratory tract illnesses were attributable to human metapneumovirus, which means that 12 percent of all lower respiratory tract illnesses in this cohort were most likely due to this virus. The mean age of human metapneumovirus-infected children was 11.6 months, the male:female ratio was 1.8:1, 78 percent of illnesses occurred between December and April, and the hospitalization rate was 2 percent. The virus was associated with bronchiolitis in 59 percent of cases, pneumonia in 8 percent, croup in 18 percent, and an exacerbation of asthma in 14 percent. We also detected human metapneumovirus in 15 percent of samples from 261 patients with upper respiratory tract infection but in only 1 of 86 samples from asymptomatic children. Human metapneumovirus infection is a leading cause of respiratory tract infection in the first years of life, with a spectrum of disease similar to that of respiratory syncytial virus. Copyright 2004 Massachusetts Medical Society
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              Human metapneumovirus infections in young and elderly adults.

              Human metapneumovirus virus (hMPV) is a newly discovered respiratory pathogen with limited epidemiological data available. Cohorts of young and older adults were prospectively evaluated for hMPV infection during 2 winter seasons. Patients hospitalized for cardiopulmonary conditions during that period were also studied. Overall, 44 (4.5%) of 984 illnesses were associated with hMPV infection, and 9 (4.1%) of 217 asymptomatic subjects were infected. There was a significant difference in rates of hMPV illnesses between years 1 and 2 (7/452 [1.5%] vs. 37/532 [7.0%]; P<.0001). In the second year, 11% of hospitalized patients had evidence of hMPV infection. Infections occurred in all age groups but were most common among young adults. Frail elderly people with hMPV infection frequently sought medical attention. In conclusion, hMPV infection occurs in adults of all ages and may account for a significant portion of persons hospitalized with respiratory infections during some years.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Int J Infect Dis
                Int. J. Infect. Dis
                International Journal of Infectious Diseases
                The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
                1201-9712
                1878-3511
                17 May 2014
                August 2014
                17 May 2014
                : 25
                : 45-52
                Affiliations
                [a ]School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Campus XI, Patia, Bhubaneswar 751024, Orissa, India
                [b ]Department of Paediatrics, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
                [c ]Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Centre for Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author. Subrat_kumar@ 123456yahoo.com
                Article
                S1201-9712(14)01488-X
                10.1016/j.ijid.2014.03.1394
                7110553
                24841931
                102bc08d-d5c9-45c4-a84d-69781e80f39a
                © 2014 The Authors

                Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

                History
                : 20 January 2014
                : 18 March 2014
                : 27 March 2014
                Categories
                Article

                Infectious disease & Microbiology
                human metapneumovirus,viral pneumonia,bronchiolitis,respiratory diseases

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