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. 2007 Mar;38(3):244-50.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2006.12.008. Epub 2007 Jan 10.

Human respiratory coronavirus HKU1 versus other coronavirus infections in Italian hospitalised patients

Giuseppe Gerna  1 , Elena Percivalle, Antonella Sarasini, Giulia Campanini, Antonio Piralla, Francesca Rovida, Emilia Genini, Antonietta Marchi, Fausto Baldanti
Affiliations

Human respiratory coronavirus HKU1 versus other coronavirus infections in Italian hospitalised patients

Giuseppe Gerna et al. J Clin Virol. 2007 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Human respiratory coronavirus (hCoV) HKU1 infections were reported for the first time in 2005 in Hong Kong.

Objective: To investigate epidemiological, clinical, and diagnostic features of HKU1 infections.

Study design: Longitudinal, prospective study from November 2005 through May 2006 in a hospitalised patient population.

Results: Overall, 48/426 (11.3%) patients were found to be infected by hCoV acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI). Of these, 10 (19.2%) were caused by HKU1 (6 single infections and 4 coinfections) during the period January-May 2006. Diagnosis was made by using RT-PCR for all four hCoVs, and in parallel, in-house developed group-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for HKU1 and 229E. HKU1-specific MAb was able to retrospectively identify 8 of 10 HKU1 strains detected by RT-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis showed that four HKU1 strains were genotype A and six genotype B. In HKU1-infected patients, the predominant clinical symptom was rhinorrhea (nine patients). Within group II hCoV, HKU1-infected patients had a significantly lower rate of lower ARTI compared to OC43-infected patients.

Conclusion: HKU1 hCoV strains circulated in northern Italy during the winter-spring season 2005-2006. Both HKU1 genotypes were detected. HKU1-specific MAb may contribute to the rapid diagnosis of HKU1 infections currently performed by RT-PCR.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Detection of HKU1-positve respiratory cells from nasopharyngeal aspirates by direct staining using HKU1-specific monoclonal antibody. (A and B) Membrane staining of large syncytial formations. (C and D) Cytoplasmic staining of respiratory cells.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic tree of HKU1 and other hCoV strains infecting different patients in the winter–spring season 2005–2006 based on sequencing of the indicated homologous fragment of ORF 1ab. On the left, the number (n) of different strains examined is indicated, while on the right the genetic distance (range) between different hCoVs is reported. The two genotypes (A and B) of HKU1 are also indicated.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Monthly distribution of hCoV-infected patients in the winter–spring season 2005–2006 in northern Italy.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Comparison of upper and lower acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) associated with different hCoV infections. The incidence of upper ARTI was significantly higher in HKU1-infected patients compared to patients infected by OC43-like hCoVs.
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