Spread of different rhinovirus B genotypes in hospitalized children in Spain

Please cite this paper as: Cuevas et al. (2013) Spread of different rhinovirus B genotypes in hospitalized children in Spain. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 7(5), 623–628. Human Rhinovirus (HRV) classification is an evolving process. New genotypes have been described within HRV‐A and HRV‐C species, but only one has been accepted related to HRV‐B. From 2003 to 2010, a total of 3987 nasopharyngeal aspirate samples were taken from pediatric patients admitted to the Severo Ochoa Hospital in Madrid (Spain). After viral analysis, 949 (23·8%) tested positive to HRV. A random selection of 397 (42%) positive samples showed that 39 (9·8%) were HRV‐B. The sequencing of partial VP4/VP2 coding region revealed the spread of 13 of 25 defined HRV‐B serotypes and three putative new genotypes. Such results remark the high diversity of HRV‐B.