Detection And Pathogenicity Of WU Polyomavirus With Acute Respiratory Tract Infection In Children

Background and objective WU polyomavirus (WUPyV), a new member of the genus of Polyomavirus in the family Polyomaviridae, has been found and associated with respiratory tract infections recently. But the role of the WU polyomavirus as agents of human disease remains uncertain .We sought to describe the detection and clinical characterization of WU Polyomavirus with acute respiratory tract infection in Children.Material and methodsMaterial: From July 2008 through June 2009, nasopharyngeal aspirates or throat swab samples were collected from 771 children who were hospitalized with acute respiratory tract infection in Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, and 82 were asymptomatic who visited the health checkup clinic.Methods: WU Polyomaviruses was detected by using PCR technology and was identified by using DNA sequences. All WU polyomavirus– positive specimens were screened for 9 commen viruses (in?uenza A and B; RSV; PIV 1 and 3; human metapneumovirus; human bocavirus; adenovirus; rhinovirus) by using PCR or RT-PCR. The clinical finding of WU Polyomaviruses infection were collected and analyed.Results1. In this study, fifteen of the 771 tested specimens with acute respiratory tract infection were positive for WU polyomavirus, the positive rate was 1.95%. And all of the asymptomatic children who visited the well-being clinic were negative.2. Positive specimens were noted for patients 2 months to 48 months of age, the median age was 18.8±16.3 months. Of the 15 WU Polyomaviruses positive patients, 9 (60%) were male., 6(40%) were female.WU polyomavirus was the sole virus detected in 9 specimens(60%) from patients with acute respiratory tract infection . WU polyomavirus were associated with the co- infection of another respiratory virus in 6 of 15 (40%), most frequently with RSV (n = 4) ,followed by adenovirus (n = 1) and rhinovirus (n = 1). 3. The most common clinical findings in the patients with WU polyomavirus are cough ,fever , wheezing.The most frequent diagnoses were pneumonia (n=8),bronchiolitis(n=4), upper respiratory tract infections (n=2) and bronchitis(n=1).A severe case was complication with viral encephalitis ..Conclusions WU Polyomaviruses may be a respiratory pathogen because WU polyomavirus was the sole virus detected in 9 specimens from patients with respiratory illness and all of the asymptomatic were negative.The most common clinical findings are cough and wheezing.Young children are the main target. And the individual pathogenetic condition maybe show severe case. More comprehensive studies are required to prove these viruses are agents causing respiratory disease.