1. Human metapneumovirus prevalence during 2019-2021 in Israel is influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Author
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Stein M, Cohen H, Nemet I, Atari N, Kliker L, Fratty IS, Bucris E, Geva M, Mendelson E, Zuckerman N, and Mandelboim M
- Subjects
- Child, Child, Preschool, Genotype, Humans, Infant, Israel epidemiology, Pandemics, Phylogeny, Prevalence, COVID-19 epidemiology, Metapneumovirus genetics, Paramyxoviridae Infections epidemiology, Respiratory Tract Infections epidemiology
- Abstract
Objectives: To compare infection rates and circulating subtypes of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) before (2019-2020) and after the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (2021) in Israel., Methods: In total, 12,718 respiratory samples were collected from hospitalized patients of all ages during the years 2019 to 2021 at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel and subjected to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis. In addition, whole-genome sequencing was performed to characterize the subtypes of hMPV circulating in Israel between 2019 and 2021., Results: A total of 481 samples were found positive for hMPV. Before the emergence of COVID-19, hMPV peaked in winter months and declined thereafter. In sharp contrast, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed a delayed peak in hMPV infection cases and higher infection of young children. Viral sequencing showed a shift in the most prevalent circulating hMPV strain from A2b to B1 during the years 2019, 2020, and 2021., Conclusion: Compared with the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021, hMPV mostly affected young children, and the most prevalent circulating subtype shifted from A2b in 2019 to B1., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2022
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