Introduction: Human rhinovirus (HRV) and Enterovirus (ENV) are the major causes of childhood acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs). This study sought to understand the distribution pattern of HRV subgroups, their seasonality and association with respiratory complications in patients at a tertiary care hospital.
Results: Of the total 332 ARTI samples, 82 (24.7%) were positive for ENV/HRV. Twenty positive samples were processed further for phylogenetic analysis. Ten of the 20 samples were identified to be HRVs (70% HRV A and 30% HRV C) and nine were enteroviruses. HRV A clustered near three distinct HRV types (A12, A78 and A82). Four of the HRV strains (represented as SEQ 137 rhino, SEQ 282 rhino, SEQ 120 rhino and SEQ 82 rhino) had high sequence similarity. HRV C showed seasonality and was associated with disease severity.
Conclusion: The genotyping and phylogenetic analysis of the HRVs in the current study shows its circulatory pattern, association with risk factors and evolutionary dynamics.
Keywords: Enteroviruses; epidemiology; human rhinoviruses; phylogenetic analysis; respiratory tract infection.