Abstract:

Objective To retrospectively analyze the clinical and laboratory characteristics of human metapneumovirus（hMPV） infection children，and to provide a reference for infection prevention and control. Methods Multiple polymerase chain reaction（PCR） combined with capillary electrophoresis fragment analysis was used for 13 common respiratory pathogens such as influenza A virus（FLU A），respiratory syncytial virus（RSV），human rhinovirus（HRV） and hMPV in 3 365 nasopharyngeal swab samples from the children with respiratory tract infection in Tongji Hospital，Tongji Medical College，Huazhong University of Science and Technology，from June 2021 to February 2022. The epidemiological data，clinical presentation，laboratory and imaging examination results，treatment and outcome of hMPV positive cases were analyzed. Results Totally，54 hMPV positive samples accounted for 1.6% of 3 365 cases. Totally，51 hMPV positive cases（52 d-10-year-old） were selected for the analysis after eliminating duplicate and unrelated case，including 35 simply hMPV positive cases（68.6%） and 16 cases combined with other viral infections（31.4%）. There were 60.8% patients with a previous history of respiratory tract infection，and the clinical manifestations were mainly cough and fever. There were 41 patients undergoing lung auscultation with abnormalities. Clinical laboratory results showed that 14 patients had increased white blood cell count，11 patients with decreased lymphocyte count，19 patients with increased C-reactive protein，29 patients with abnormal liver function and low creatinine. Further analysis of the above main indicators showed no statistical significance between the children with simple hMPV infection group and those with other viral infections. All the children were discharged after comprehensive treatment such as antiviral and symptomatic support. Conclusions The hMPV is one of the important pathogens causing acute respiratory tract infection in children in Wuhan. Most children could have a good prognosis.

Key words: Human metapneumovirus, Laboratory determination, Clinical characteristic, Children