Human Metapneumovirus in Severe Respiratory Syncytial Virus Bronchiolitis

• DOI: 10.3201/eid0903.020289
• Publication Date: 2012-06-20T21:01:40Z
• Authors: Julie Greensill; Paul S. McNamara; Winifred Dove; Brian Flanagan; Rosalind L. Smyth; C. Anthony Hart
• Keywords: Paramyxoviridae Infections; respiratory syncytial virus; RT-PCR; R; Dispatch; Infant; dispatch; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Genome, Viral; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; United Kingdom; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; severe bronchiolitis; Medicine; Bronchiolitis, Viral; Humans; Metapneumovirus; Human metapneumovirus; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to detect segments of the M (matrix), N (nucleoprotein), and F (fusion) genes of human metapneumovirus in bronchoalveolar fluid from 30 infants with severe respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis. Seventy percent of them were coinfected with metapneumovirus. Such coinfection might be a factor influencing the severity of bronchiolitis.