Abstract
Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children <5 years of age in developing countries. Human metapneumovirus (hMPV), a newly described respiratory pathogen, has been identified as an important cause of ARI in young children. Objectives: The objective was to describe the prevalence of hMPV in children who presented with ARI to a large referral hospital in Delhi, India and to genotype circulating strains on the basis of F gene nucleotide sequence analysis. Study design: We analyzed 97 samples from children <5 years of age with ARI seen at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences from June 2004 to March 2005. RT-PCR was performed for the N and F genes and partial F gene nucleotide sequences were used to characterize the viruses. Results: hMPV was identified in 12% of children with ARI, including 13% of the children hospitalized with ARI. Most virus identification occurred in the winter. The Indian strains clustered in the A2 genetic sublineage. Conclusions: This report establishes hMPV as an important cause of ARI in children in India.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 70-72 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Virology |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Acute respiratory infection
- Fusion protein gene
- Human metapneumovirus
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Virology
- Infectious Diseases