Molecular and clinical characteristics related to rhinovirus infection in Brasília, Brazil

INTRODUCTION: Human rhinovirus (HRV) is one of the most common human viral pathogens related to infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract, which can result in bronchiolitis and pneumonia. However, the relevance of HRV in human health was under-estimated for long time due to the absence of molecular targets for influenza and influenza-like syndrome surveillance in Brasília, Brazil. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study was analyze the clinical characteristics and outcomes of HRV infections in comparison with patients without HRV and other common respiratory viruses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this purpose, new specific primer sets were designed based on the high throughput sequencing analysis in previous study. These primers were used for HRV detection by RT-qPCR and Sanger sequencing of amplified cDNA of 5′ genomic region. The phylogenetic tree with representative HRV isolates was constructed using the Mega X software. Statistical analysis considering the patient profiles were performed using IBM SPSS program with non-parametric tests. RESULTS: The most prevalent virus in negative samples was rhinovirus (n = 40), including three rhinovirus species (rhinovirus A, B, and C). The odds ratio associated with HRV infection was 2.160 for patients younger than 2 years and 4.367 for people living in rural areas. The multiple analysis showed lower chance of patients with HRV presenting respiratory distress. CONCLUSION: In this study, it was reported the predominance of rhinoviruses in cases of respiratory illness for negative patients for the influenza and influenza-like syndrome surveillance, being rhinorrhea, the most significant symptom associated with the disease. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42770-020-00411-0.