Rhinovirus-A True Respiratory Threat or a Common Inconvenience of Childhood?

Abstract

A decade-long neglect of rhinovirus as an important agent of disease in humans was primarily due to the fact that they were seen as less virulent and capable of causing only mild respiratory infections such as common cold. However, with an advent of molecular diagnostic methods, an increasing number of reports placed them among the pathogens found in the lower respiratory tract and recognized them as important risk factors for asthma-related pathology in childhood. As the spread of rhinovirus was not severely affected by the implementation of social distancing and other measures during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, its putative pathogenic role has become even more evident in recent years. By concentrating on children as the most vulnerable group, in this narrative review we first present classification and main traits of rhinovirus, followed by epidemiology and clinical presentation, risk factors for severe forms of the disease, long-term complications and the pathogenesis of asthma, as well as a snapshot of treatment trials and studies. Recent evidence suggests that the rhinovirus is a significant contributor to respiratory illness in both high-risk and low-risk populations of children.

Keywords: asthma; bronchiolitis; common cold; community-acquired pneumonia; respiratory pathology; rhinovirus; virology; wheezing.

Figure 1

A three-dimensional structure of rhinovirus B14 drug-resistant mutant (original representation; MMDB ID: 225640). Color legend: capsid subunit VP1 (pink), capsid subunit VP2 (brown), capsid subunit VP3 (blue), capsid subunit VP4 (green). Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Structure Summary MMDB. Representations were made with the use of the iCn3D Structure Viewer using Three.js and jQuery (source code available at https://github.com/ncbi/icn3d, accessed on 21 March 2023).