%0 Journal Article
%T A molecular epidemiological study of respiratory viruses detected in Japanese children with acute wheezing illness
%A Asako Fujitsuka
%A Hiroyuki Tsukagoshi
%A Mika Arakawa
%A Kazuko Goto-Sugai
%A Akihide Ryo
%A Yoshimichi Okayama
%A Katsumi Mizuta
%A Atsuyoshi Nishina
%A Masakazu Yoshizumi
%A Yoichi Kaburagi
%A Masahiro Noda
%A Masato Tashiro
%A Nobuhiko Okabe
%A Masaaki Mori
%A Shumpei Yokota
%A Hirokazu Kimura
%J BMC Infectious Diseases
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2334-11-168
%X Using PCR technology, we attempted to detect various respiratory viruses from 115 Japanese children. Furthermore, the detected viruses were subjected to homology, pairwise distance, and phylogenetic analysis.Viruses were detected from 99 (86.1%) patients. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) alone and human rhinovirus (HRV) alone were detected in 47 (40.9%) and 36 (31.3%) patients, respectively. Both RSV and HRV were detected in 14 (12.2%) patients. Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) alone and human parainfluenza virus (HPIV) alone were detected in 1 (0.9%) patient each, respectively. Homology and phylogenetic analyses showed that the RSV and HRV strains were classified into genetically diverse species or subgroups. In addition, RSV was the dominant virus detected in patients with no history of wheezing, whereas HRV was dominant in patients with a history of wheezing.The results suggested that these genetically diverse respiratory viruses, especially RSV and HRV, might be associated with wheezing in Japanese children.A range of respiratory viruses are known to cause acute respiratory infections (ARI), including the common cold, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia in humans [1]. The major pathogens are potentially respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human rhinovirus (HRV), human metapneumovirus (HMPV), human parainfluenza virus (HPIV), enterovirus (EV), influenza viruses (InfV), adenoviruses (AdV), and human bocavirus (HBoV) [2,3]. Respiratory infections by RSV, HRV, and HPIV are implicated in the induction of wheezing and the exacerbation of asthma, although their mechanisms are not clearly known [4]. The prevalence of asthma in developed countries is around 10 to 15% in children, while the prevalence is lower but increasing rapidly in developing countries [5]. Accumulating evidence indicates that the etiology of most cases of asthma, namely virus-induced asthma, is linked to such respiratory virus infections [6-9]. In addition, other epidemiological studies suggest that about 70% o
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/11/168