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. 2013 Nov;7(6):1040-7.
doi: 10.1111/irv.12101. Epub 2013 Mar 5.

Epidemiological and clinical features of human coronavirus infections among different subsets of patients

Tatiane K Cabeça  1 , Celso Granato, Nancy Bellei
Affiliations

Epidemiological and clinical features of human coronavirus infections among different subsets of patients

Tatiane K Cabeça et al. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2013 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological and clinical data of human coronaviruses (HCoVs) infections are restricted to span 1-3 years at most. We conducted a comprehensive 9-year study on HCoVs by analyzing 1137 respiratory samples from four subsets of patients (asymptomatic, general community, with comorbidities, and hospitalized) in São Paulo, Brazil.

Methods: A pan-coronavirus RT-PCR screening assay was performed, followed by species-specific real-time RT-PCR monoplex assays.

Results: Human coronaviruses were detected in 88 of 1137 (7.7%) of the samples. The most frequently detected HCoV species were NL63 (50.0%) and OC43 (27.3%). Patients with comorbidities presented the highest risk of acquiring coronavirus infection (odds ratio=4.17; 95% confidence interval=1.9-9.3), and children with heart diseases revealed a significant HCoV infection presence. Dyspnea was more associated with HCoV-229E infections (66.6%), and cyanosis was reported only in HCoV-OC43 infections. There were interseasonal differences in the detection frequencies, with HCoV-229E being predominant in the year 2004 (61.5%) and HCoV-NL63 (70.8%) in 2008.

Conclusions: Our data provide a novel insight into the epidemiology and clinical knowledge of HCoVs among different subsets of patients, revealing that these viruses may cause more than mild respiratory tract disease.

Keywords: Clinical features; epidemiology; human coronaviruses; respiratory infection.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportions of samples positive for each human coronavirus from subsets of studied patients. HCW, healthcare workers; Com child, children from the community; Renal TP, renal transplant patients; Child heart, children with heart diseases; Stem cel TP, patients in stem cell transplantation programs; Hosp, hospitalized.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Human coronavirus detection frequencies by month over 9 years.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentages of detection frequencies of the four human coronaviruses by age.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of symptoms by each human coronaviruse‐infected case.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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