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In order to describe the molecular epidemiology of human rhinovirus (HRV) and enterovirus (EV) infection in severely ill children, we studied all episodes of bronchospasm/bronchopneumonia in 6-month-old to 18-year-old patients from January 2010 to May 2012 who required mechanical ventilation. HRV/EVs were detected in 55 (57.3%) of 96 patients, of which 50 (91%) were HRV (HRV-A, 16; HRV-B, 1; HRV-C, 18) and 5 (9%) were EVs (EV-D68, 3). No significant differences in epidemiologic and clinical characteristics were found between different types. In six of the 13 patients who required invasive mechanical ventilation, HRV was the only pathogen detected., (Copyright © 2015 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) are RNA viruses related to neonatal sepsis, meningoencephalitis and other infections in young children. Little clinical and epidemiological information is available on these viruses. HPeVs were sought in cerebrospinal fluid from 397 infants aged less than 12 months from whom a sample was obtained to exclude meningitis or encephalitis from 2006 to 2009. HPeV infections were also tested in stool samples from 271 children aged less than 3 years old with gastroenteritis from November 2008 to March 2009. HPeV detection was by real-time polymerase chain reaction assay (region 5'UTR), followed by genotyping (region VP3/VP1). HPeVs were detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of nine infants (2.3%), one aged 6 months and eight aged 14-55 days old. All were admitted to hospital for febrile syndrome with abrupt clinical deterioration and suspected systemic infection without clear laboratory signs of meningeal inflammation. The same virus was detected in all the available nasopharyngeal aspirates, stool, and/or serum samples from each patient. At least eight of the nine cases were caused by HPeV3. HPeVs were detected in stool samples from 17 children (6.3%), the most prevalent types being types 1 and 3. In conclusion, HPeV infection is common in the Basque Country (Spain) and HPeV3 is a significant cause of hospital admission due to systemic infection in the first few months of life. In these patients, HPeVs should be investigated as part of routine tests for enterovirus., ((c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Background: Recently a new genogroup of human rhinovirus (HRV) has been described and named HRV-C. The relative importance of HRV-C in viral respiratory tract illnesses is unknown., Objective: We looked for HRV-C in pediatric patients with respiratory tract infections to determine the incidence of HRV-C and its role in sick and healthy children. We describe the clinical differences associated with HRV-C infections and other HRV genogroups., Patients and Methods: From January 2004 to December 2008, a prospective study was conducted in children younger than 14 years who were admitted with respiratory infection to the Pediatrics Department of the Severo Ochoa Hospital in Madrid, Spain. Specimens of nasopharyngeal aspirate were taken for virologic study with polymerase chain reaction, and clinical data were recorded. HRV specimens were genotyped. We studied the frequency of HRV-C infections, the clinical course of these patients and the differences with other HRV genogroups (HRV-A and HRV-B). Presence of HRV-C was also studied in a group of healthy children., Results: HRV was detected in 424 of 1555 episodes of illness (27.2%) and in 26 of 211 healthy children (12.3%) (P < 0.001). We amplified at random 248 of them (227 hospitalized children and 21 healthy children): 132 (53.2%) had HRV-A, 28 (11.2%) had HRV-B, and 88 (35.4%) HRV-C. HRV-C infections were associated with asthma, recurrent wheezing, and bronchiolitis but were not significantly different from the HRV-A genogroup. Nevertheless, significant clinical differences were observed between the HRV-B genogroup and the other groups: more frequent infiltrate on chest radiograph (P = 0.017), fever (P = 0.052), diagnosis of pneumonia (P = 0.01), and antibiotic treatment (P = 0.004)., Conclusions: HRV-C infections were frequent in hospitalized children with respiratory diseases and were associated with asthma, recurrent wheezing, and bronchiolitis. No clinical differences were found with the HRV-A group: HRV-B group had clinical differences with both the other groups.