TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tabatabai, Julia
A1  - Prifert, Christiane
A1  - Pfeil, Johannes
A1  - Grulich-Henn, Juergen
A1  - Schnitzler, Paul
T1  - Novel Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Genotype ON1 Predominates in Germany during Winter Season 2012-13
JF  - PLOS ONE
N2  - Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of hospitalization especially in young children with respiratory tract infections (RTI). Patterns of circulating RSV genotypes can provide a better understanding of the molecular epidemiology of RSV infection. We retrospectively analyzed the genetic diversity of RSV infection in hospitalized children with acute RTI admitted to University Hospital Heidelberg/Germany between October 2012 and April 2013. Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were routinely obtained in 240 children younger than 2 years of age who presented with clinical symptoms of upper or lower RTI. We analyzed NPAs via PCR and sequence analysis of the second variable region of the RSV G gene coding for the attachment glycoprotein. We obtained medical records reviewing routine clinical data. RSV was detected in 134/240 children. In RSV-positive patients the most common diagnosis was bronchitis/bronchiolitis (75.4%). The mean duration of hospitalization was longer in RSV-positive compared to RSV-negative patients (3.5 vs. 5.1 days; p < 0.01). RSV-A was detected in 82.1%, RSV-B in 17.9% of all samples. Phylogenetic analysis of 112 isolates revealed that the majority of RSV-A strains (65%) belonged to the novel ON1 genotype containing a 72-nucleotide duplication. However, genotype ON1 was not associated with a more severe course of illness when taking basic clinical/laboratory parameters into account. Molecular characterization of RSV confirms the co-circulation of multiple genotypes of subtype RSV-A and RSV-B. The duplication in the G gene of genotype ON1 might have an effect on the rapid spread of this emerging RSV strain.
KW  - group-A
KW  - group B genotype
KW  - subgroup-B
KW  - South Africa
KW  - genetic variability
KW  - 60-nucleotide duplication
KW  - molecular characterization
KW  - attachment glycoprotein
KW  - circulation patterns
KW  - phylogenetic analysis
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-115229
VL  - 9
IS  - 10
ER  -