Understanding Human Coronavirus HCoV-NL63

Abdul-Rasool, Sahar; Fielding, Burtram C

In Europe, high prevalence was also noted. In Italy, a study conducted on 322 infants suffering from acute respiratory disease has shown that 8.7% of the cases examined were caused by coronaviruses, with HCoV-NL63 accounting for 21.4% of the latter [51] . In France, 300 respiratory specimens were checked for HCoV-NL63 presence; of the 300 samples, 28 (9.3%) were positive [29] . Likewise, seven cases were reported in a one-year study in Belgium [28] . Interestingly, the Dutch group that first described the virus has obtained 949 samples from a German group who conducted a population-based study on lower respiratory tract infection in children under three years of age [52] ; the group re-analyzed the samples and detected a 5.2% incidence of HCoV-NL63 [53] . In Australia, the virus was detected in Melbourne, where a study conducted on 543 patients with respiratory symptoms has shown 18 cases (3.3%) of human coronavirus HCoV-NL63 infection [54] . Moreover, in the USA and Canada, the virus was reported in 79 (8.8%) out of 895 and 19 (3.6%) out of 525 patients, respectively.