Frequency and Molecular Typing of Human Metapneumovirus in Children with Acute Respiratory Tract Infection in Bojnurd, Northeastern Iran

Acute respiratory infection plays a major role in hospitalization of children worldwide and viruses are one of the most important causative pathogens of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs). Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a respiratory pathogen responsible for ARTIs in infants and children around the world. The epidemiology of hMPV in the northeast of Iran is poorly described. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and molecular types of hMPV in children under the age of 12 along with clinical relevance in northeast Iran.
In this cross sectional study, from autumn 2015 to spring 2016 (nine months), 150 nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from children with ARTI and were evaluated for the presence of hMPV by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique; after that hMPV typing on positive samples was performed using PCR method.
Among the 150 patients that were included the study, 31 (20.6%) were positive for the hMPV genome. We also found that 96.8% (n = 30 cases) of positive cases belonged to genotype A; whereas no B genotype was detected. One of our hMPV isolates was non typable (3.2%).
This study, for the first time, reports the existence of Human metapneumovirus virus in children with respiratory symptoms in northeastern Iran. We have also shown that the genotype A is the predominant circulating type among our patients.