Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Human Metapneumovirus

• Main Authors: Luciana Helena Antoniassi da Silva, Fernando Rosado Spilki, Adriana Gut Lopes Riccetto, Emilio Elias Baracat, Clarice Weis Arns
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre ; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) 2009-08-01
• Series: Clinical and Biomedical Research
• Subjects: Vírus respiratório sincicial humano, Metapneumovírus humano, infecções respiratórias
• Online Access: http://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/hcpa/article/view/8065
• ISSN: 0101-5575; 2357-9730

The human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and the human metapneumovírus (hMPV) are main etiological agents of acute respiratory infections (ARI). The ARI is an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide.  hRSV and hMPV are members of the Paramyxoviridae. They are enveloped, non-segmented viruses, with negative-sense single stranded genomes. Respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is the best characterized agent viral of this group, associated with respiratory diseases in lower respiratory tract. Recently, a new human pathogen belonging to the subfamily Pneumovirinae was identified, the human metapneumovirus (hMPV), which is structurally similar to the hRSV, in genomic organization, viral structure, antigenicity and clinical symptoms.  The subfamily Pneumovirinae contains two genera: genus Pneumovirus contains hRSV, the bovine (bRSV), as well as the ovine and caprine respiratory syncytial virus and pneumonia virus of mice, the second genus Metapneumovirus, consists of avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). In this work, we present a brief narrative review of the literature on important aspects of the biology, epidemiology and clinical manifestations of infections by two respiratory viruses.