BACKGROUND Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is an important global cause of severe acute respiratory infections in young children and the elderly. The epidemiology of HMPV in sub-Saharan Africa is poorly described and factors that allow its recurrent epidemics in communities not understood. METHODS We undertook paediatric inpatient surveillance for HMPV in Kilifi County Hospital (KCH) of Coastal ...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a leading cause of respiratory infection that causes upper airway and severe lower respiratory tract infections. HMPV infection is initiated by viral surface glycoproteins that attach to cellular receptors and mediate virus membrane fusion with cellular membranes. Most paramyxoviruses use two viral glycoproteins to facilitate virus entry-an attachment protein and...

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) has been shown to be a leading cause of viral lower respiratory tract infections in children. Nevertheless, few reports regarding hMPV infections over consecutive years in children in primary care settings are available. We carried out virologic and clinical studies to determine the role of hMPV in febrile lower respiratory infections in children at a primary care c...

This study was conducted to detect human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in young children hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis, using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Nasopharyngeal secretions were collected from 170 children between 1 and 24 months of age admitted to two tertiary hospitals in northeastern Thailand, between 2002 and 2004. ...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality from acute lower respiratory tract illness, with most individuals seropositive by age five. Despite the presence of neutralizing antibodies, secondary infections are common and can be severe in young, elderly, and immunocompromised persons. Preclinical vaccine studies for HMPV have suggested a need for a balanced antibody ...

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a paramyxovirus that causes respiratory tract infections ranging from mild upper airway infection to severe pneumonia. Patients with haematological disease, especially haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients, are more likely to develop more severe infections. We describe three cases of hMPV infection in HSCT patients. The most reliable diagnost...

23 Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a major worldwide respiratory pathogen that causes acute upper 24 and lower respiratory tract disease. The mechanism by which this virus recognizes and gains access to its 25 target cell is still largely unknown. In this study, we addressed the initial steps in virus binding and 26 infection and found that the first binding partner for HMPV is heparan sulfate ...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a recently discovered pathogen that causes a significant proportion of respiratory infections in young infants, the elderly and immunocompromised patients. Very little is known regarding the cellular signalling elicited by this virus in airway epithelial cells, the target of HMPV infection. In this study, we investigated the role of the RNA helicases retinoic aci...

Chimeric versions of recombinant human metapneumovirus (HMPV) were generated by replacing the nucleoprotein (N) or phosphoprotein (P) open reading frame with its counterpart from the closely related avian metapneumovirus (AMPV) subgroup C. In Vero cells, AMPV replicated to an approximately 100-fold-higher titer than HMPV. Surprisingly, the N and P chimeric viruses replicated to a peak titer tha...

BALB/c mice infected with human metapneumovirus (hMPV) were treated with the sulfated sialyl lipid NMSO3 (one dose of 50 mg kg(-1)) given at the time of infection. NMSO3 significantly reduced viral replication in the lungs, as well as hMPV-induced body weight loss, pulmonary inflammation and cytokine production, suggesting that antiviral treatment initiated at the beginning of viral infection c...