UNLABELLED Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a leading cause of respiratory disease in infants, children, and the elderly worldwide, yet no licensed vaccines exist. Live-attenuated vaccines present safety challenges, and protein subunit vaccines induce primarily antibody responses. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are an attractive alternative vaccine approach because of reduced safety concerns compar...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) are common causes of respiratory infections in children. Diseases caused by hMPV are generally considered to be less severe than those caused by RSV; the underlying mechanisms, however, remain unknown. In the present study, the expressions of TLRs in airway epithelial cells and lungs of BALB/c mice infected by hMPV or RSV were m...

Introduction. Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a paramyxovirus from the same subfamily as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and causes similar acute lower respiratory tract infection. Albuterol in the setting of acute RSV infection is controversial and has not yet been studied in HMPV. We sought to determine the frequency of albuterol use in HMPV infection and the association between albuterol a...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a recently identified Paramyxovirus first isolated from hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI). We sought evidence of HMPV infection in patients who had visited general practitioners, had influenzalike illnesses (ILI), and had negative tests for influenza and Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV). As part of national virologic sur...

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a recently discovered respiratory pathogen, infecting mainly young children. The infected patients suffer from influenza like symptoms (ILS). In Israel the virus is mainly circulating in February to March. Here we report on an increased rate of hMPV infection in the winter season of 2009-10. The 2009-10 infection had several unique characteristics when compared t...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) shares clinical and epidemiological characteristics with well-known respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and epidemiological differences between HMPV- and RSV-induced wheezing illnesses. A total of 1,008 nasopharyngeal aspirate specimens was collected from 1,008 pediatric patients hospitalized with acute respirator...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a relative newly described virus. It was first isolated in 2001 and currently appears to be one of the most significant and common human viral infections. Retrospective serologic studies demonstrated the presence of HMPV antibodies in humans more than 50 years earlier. Although the virus was primarily known as causative agent of respiratory tract infections in ch...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is an important cause of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) in children, elderly individuals and immunocompromised patients. In vitro, different HMPV strains can induce variable cytopathic effects ranging from large multinucleated syncytia to focal cell rounding. In this study, we investigated the impact of different in vitro phenotypes of two HMPV strains on...

Mucins (MUC) constitute an important component of the inflammatory and innate immune response. However, the expression of these molecules by respiratory viral infections is still largely unknown. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) are two close-related paramyxoviruses that can cause severe low respiratory tract disease in infants and young children worldwide. Cur...

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV), a leading cause of respiratory tract infections in infants, inhibits type I interferon (IFN) signaling by an unidentified mechanism. In this study, we showed that infection of airway epithelial cells with hMPV decreased cellular level of Janus tyrosine kinase (Jak1) and tyrosine kinase 2 (Tyk2), due to enhanced proteosomal degradation and reduced gene transcription...