Epidemiological and clinical features of human coronavirus infections among different subsets of patients. Issue 6 (5th March 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cabeça, Tatiane K.; Granato, Celso; Bellei, Nancy
• Is Part Of: Influenza and other respiratory viruses. Volume 7:Issue 6(2013:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1040
• Page End: 1047
• Publication Date: 2013-03-05
• Subjects: Influenza -- Periodicals; Respiratory infections -- Periodicals; Virus diseases -- Periodicals; Influenza, Human -- Periodicals; Respiratory Tract Diseases -- Periodicals; Virus Diseases -- Periodicals; Grippe -- Périodiques; Appareil respiratoire -- Infections -- Périodiques; Maladies à virus -- Périodiques; 616.203
• DOI: 10.1111/irv.12101
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-2640

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="irv12101-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="irv12101-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Epidemiological and clinical data of human coronaviruses (HCoVs) infections are restricted to span 1–3 years at most. We conducted a comprehensive 9‐year study on HCoVs by analyzing 1137 respiratory samples from four subsets of patients (asymptomatic, general community, with comorbidities, and hospitalized) in São Paulo, Brazil.</p> </sec> <sec id="irv12101-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>A pan‐coronavirus RT‐PCR screening assay was performed, followed by species‐specific real‐time RT‐PCR monoplex assays.</p> </sec> <sec id="irv12101-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Human coronaviruses were detected in 88 of 1137 (7.7%) of the samples. The most frequently detected HCoV species were NL63 (50.0%) and OC43 (27.3%). Patients with comorbidities presented the highest risk of acquiring coronavirus infection (odds ratio = 4.17; 95% confidence interval = 1.9–9.3), and children with heart diseases revealed a significant HCoV infection presence. Dyspnea was more associated with HCoV‐229E infections (66.6%), and cyanosis was reported only in HCoV‐OC43 infections. There were interseasonal differences in the detection frequencies, with HCoV‐229E being predominant in the year 2004 (61.5%) and HCoV‐NL63 (70.8%) in 2008.</p> </sec> <sec id="irv12101-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Our data provide a novel insight into the epidemiology and clinical knowledge of HCoVs among different subsets of patients, revealing that these viruses may cause more than mild respiratory tract disease.</p> </sec> </abstract>