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Review
. 2024 Mar 21:11:100354.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijregi.2024.03.009. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Characterization of human respiratory syncytial virus in children with severe acute respiratory infection before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Paul Simusika  1   2   3 , Michiko Okamoto  1 , Clyde Dapat  1 , Walter Muleya  4 , Moffat Malisheni  2 , Sikandar Azam  1 , Takeaki Imamura  1 , Mayuko Saito  1 , Innocent Mwape  5 , Evans Mpabalwani  6 , Mwaka Monze  2 , Hitoshi Oshitani  1
Affiliations
Review

Characterization of human respiratory syncytial virus in children with severe acute respiratory infection before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Paul Simusika et al. IJID Reg. .

Abstract

Objectives: Annual outbreaks of human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) are caused by newly introduced and locally persistent strains. During the COVID-19 pandemic, global and local circulation of HRSV significantly decreased. This study was conducted to characterize HRSV in 2018-2022 and to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the evolution of HRSV.

Design/methods: Combined oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from children hospitalized with severe acute respiratory infection at two hospitals in Zambia. The second hypervariable region of the attachment gene G was targeted for phylogenetic analysis.

Results: Of 3113 specimens, 504 (16.2%) were positive for HRSV, of which 131 (26.0%) and 66 (13.1%) were identified as HRSVA and HRSVB, respectively. In early 2021, an increase in HRSV was detected, caused by multiple distinct clades of HRSVA and HRSVB. Some were newly introduced, whereas others resulted from local persistence.

Conclusions: This study provides insights into the evolution of HRSV, driven by global and local circulation. The COVID-19 pandemic had a temporal impact on the evolution pattern of HRSV. Understanding the evolution of HRSV is vital for developing strategies for its control.

Keywords: Molecular evolution; Respiratory syncytial virus; Severe acute respiratory infection; Zambia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly distribution of HRSV cases detected in 2018-2022 in Zambia. The number of specimens collected by month is shown with a black line (right scale). HRSV-positive cases are indicated by stack bars. HRSVA and HRSVB cases are shown with red and blue bars, respectively. Untypable HRSV is indicated with grey bars. The dotted line indicates the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Zambia. HRSV, human respiratory syncytial virus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree of the second hypervariable region of HRSVA (left) and HRSVB (right) genotypes circulating in 2018-2022 in Zambia. The trees were inferred using MEGA (Version 7.0) and utilizing the maximum likelihood and bootstrap support of 1000. In this tree, only bootstrap values >70 are shown. Observed distinct Zambian clades from Lusaka (LSK) and Ndola (NDL) are indicated on the left of HRSVA and HRSVB phylogenetic trees. Red squares indicate clades with persistent strains. HRSV, human respiratory syncytial virus.
Figure 3a
Figure 3a
HRSVA partial G gene amino acid substitutions deduced among SARI cases in 2018-2022 in Zambia. Strains from this study were compared relative to the reference JN257693.1 (ON1 prototype). The number of sequences with additional identical strains is shown in parentheses on the right of the strain name. Dots represent identical residues. Asterisks represent stop codons. Potential N-linked glycosylation is indicated by horizontal black boxes.
Figure 3b
Figure 3b
HRSVB partial G gene amino acid substitutions deduced among SARI cases in 2018-2022 in Zambia. Strains from this study were compared with the reference DQ227395.1 (BA9) first described in Argentina. The number of sequences with additional identical strains is shown in parentheses on the right of the strain name. Dots represent identical residues. Asterisks represent stop codons. Potential N-linked glycosylation sites are indicated by horizontal black boxes. HRSV, human respiratory syncytial virus.
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