TY - JOUR T1 - Human rhinovirus subtypes and association with respiratory symptoms during the first year of life in healthy children JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - 396 AU - Loretta Müller AU - Ines Mack AU - Nicolas Regamey AU - Caroline Tapparel AU - Laurent Kaiser AU - Urs Frey AU - Philipp Latzin Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/396.abstract N2 - Background: Human rhinovirus (RV) is one of the most common respiratory viruses affecting children. Despite its known role in asthma development, its clinical impact in infants is unclear. In particular, little is known about the association of particular RV subtypes with respiratory symptoms in early life. We therefore investigated prevalence of RV subtypes and its association with respiratory symptoms in otherwise healthy infants.Methods: In a subsample of 20 infants from a prospective birth cohort, we analyzed RV colonization in nasal swabs on a weekly basis during the first year of life. RV-positive samples were further sequenced to determine RV subtypes. Respiratory health was assessed weekly by standardized telephone interviews with the parents.Results: RV was detected in 261 out of 825 (32%) nasal swabs obtained in the 20 infants. RV type A and C were equally frequent (39%), followed by RV-B (12%) and untypable samples (10%). 76 different RV subtypes were identified (30xA, 8xB, 36xC); 22 RV subtypes were identified more than four times. Half of the RV-positive episodes were accompanied by respiratory symptoms. Association between RV subtypes and symptoms was heterogeneous. The two most frequent subtypes (A78/A16) were identified 18/9x in 7/4 infants and symptomatic in 53/75% episodes. The seasonal RV colonization pattern differed among RV types, e.g. 63% in spring and 21% in fall for RV-A and 29% in spring and 46% in fall for RV-C.Conclusions: Distribution of RV subtypes among infants is highly heterogeneous, varies between seasons and is differently associated with respiratory symptoms. ER -