Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 30;18(1):89.
doi: 10.1186/s12985-021-01562-8.

Etiology and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses among children in Zhejiang Province, China 2017-2019

Yanjun Zhang #  1   2 , Lingxuan Su #  1 , Yin Chen  2 , Sicong Yu  1 , Dan Zhang  3 , Haiyan Mao  2 , Lei Fang  4
Affiliations

Etiology and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses among children in Zhejiang Province, China 2017-2019

Yanjun Zhang et al. Virol J. .

Abstract

Background: A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerging has put global public health institutes on high alert. Little is known about the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of human coronaviruses infections in relation to infections with other respiratory viruses.

Methods: From February 2017 to December 2019, 3660 respiratory samples submitted to Zhejiang Children Hospital with acute respiratory symptoms were tested for four human coronaviruses RNA by a novel two-tube multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays. Samples were also screened for the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 by reverse transcription-PCR analysis.

Results: Coronavirus RNAs were detected in 144 (3.93%) specimens: HCoV-HKU1 in 38 specimens, HCoV-NL63 in 62 specimens, HCoV-OC43 in 38 specimens and HCoV-229E in 8 specimens. Genomes for SARS-CoV-2 were absent in all specimens by RT-PCR analysis during the study period. The majority of HCoV infections occurred during fall months. No significant differences in gender, sample type, year were seen across species. 37.5 to 52.6% of coronaviruses detected were in specimens testing positive for other respiratory viruses. Phylogenic analysis identified that Zhejiang coronaviruses belong to multiple lineages of the coronaviruses circulating in other countries and areas.

Conclusion: Common HCoVs may have annual peaks of circulation in fall months in the Zhejiang province, China. Genetic relatedness to the coronaviruses in other regions suggests further surveillance on human coronaviruses in clinical samples are clearly needed to understand their patterns of activity and role in the emergence of novel coronaviruses.

Keywords: Acute respiratory infection; Hospitalized children; Human coronavirus; Phylogenic analysis; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The detection rates of respiratory viruses
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Monthly distribution of total HCoVs (orange), HCoV-NL63 (blue), HCoV-OC43 (yellow), HCoV-HKU1 (green) and HCoV-229E (purple) infections in hospitalized children with respiratory tract infections from February 2017 to December 2019
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Circulation trends of HCoV infections. a Yearly distribution of the four HCoV infections. b Seasonal distribution of the four HCoV infections
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Clinical profiles of HCoV infections based on clinical manifestation (a) and age (b)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Phylogenetic analysis based on nucleotide sequences of PCR products corresponding to the spike genes of HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1. a Phylogenetic trees of HCoV-OC43 S gene (4.7 kb) constructed with neighbor-joining algorithm. Red circles indicated Zhejiang HCoV-OC43 strains. b Phylogenetic trees of HCoV-NL63 S gene (4.5 kb) constructed with neighbor-joining algorithm. Blue triangles indicated Zhejiang HCoV-NL63 strains. c Phylogenetic trees of HCoV-HKU1 S gene (4.6 kb) constructed with neighbor-joining algorithm. Green rhombus indicated Zhejiang HCoV- HKU1 strains
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Viruses CSGotICoTo. The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2. Nat Microbiol. 04 2020;5(4):536–544. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A novel Coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(8):727–733. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hui DS, Azhar E, Madani TA, et al. The continuing 2019-nCoV epidemic threat of novel coronaviruses to global health—the latest 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. China. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;91:264–266. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.01.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Han Q, Lin Q, Jin S, You L. Coronavirus 2019-nCoV: a brief perspective from the front line. J Infect. 2020;80(4):373–377. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.02.010. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Drosten C, Günther S, Preiser W, et al. Identification of a novel coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2003;348(20):1967–1976. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa030747. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances