Human rhinoviruses prevailed among children in the setting of wearing face masks in Shanghai, 2020

BACKGROUND: Human rhinovirus (HRV) is the predominant etiological agent of the common cold in children and adults. A recent study showed that the inhibitory effect of face masks on viral shedding of HRV was less prominent than that on other respiratory viruses. Considering that most Chinese people have worn face masks in public area since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019, we aimed to find out whether HRV prevailed among children in 2020 and demonstrate the details of the epidemiological features of HRV under such a special circumstance. METHODS: We summarized the incidences of various respiratory virus infections in patients who visited the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University during 2018–2020, and genotyped HRV positive nasopharyngeal specimens collected from 316 inpatients and 72 outpatients that visited the hospital in 2020. RESULTS: There was a major prevalence of HRV among children in the latter half of 2020, with a clear seasonality that HRV-As prevailed in summer while HRV-Cs in autumn. HRV-As were more prone to cause severe lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), while HRV-Cs were closely associated with childhood wheezing. The predominant genotypes were A11, A28, A47, A82, A101, C40 and C43. Notably, A21, A82 and A101 took up larger proportions in severe cases than in non-severe cases. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings described a major prevalence of HRVs among children in 2020, which highlight the unique transmitting pattern of HRV and help to narrow the targets for antiviral strategies.