Tamara K Dzagurova1, Evgeniy A Tkachenko2, Aydar A Ishmukhametov2, Mariya V Balovneva1, Boris Klempa3, Detlev H Kruger4. 1. Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune-and Biological Products of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. 2. Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune-and Biological Products of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; 1th Moscow State Medical University "I. M. Sechenov", Moscow, Russia. 3. Institute of Medical Virology, Helmut-Ruska-Haus, Charité School of Medicine, Berlin, Germany; Biomedical Research Center, Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia. 4. Institute of Medical Virology, Helmut-Ruska-Haus, Charité School of Medicine, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: detlev.kruger@charite.de.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Very recently, a novel European hantavirus, Sochi virus, has been discovered which causes severe courses of hantavirus disease with a case fatality rate of about 15 percent. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to study to which extent and with which clinical severity children were affected by Sochi virus infection. STUDY DESIGN: Sochi virus infection of patients was confirmed by molecular, serological, and epizoonotic studies. Clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed for the age group of up to 15 years (n = 6) in comparison to all older patients (n = 56). RESULTS: 9.7 percent of patients with hantavirus disease studied (6/62) were up to 15 years old. The children showed moderate to severe clinical courses similarly to the situation in adults. CONCLUSIONS: While children are in general considered to be less affected by hantavirus infections than adults, in case of highly pathogenic hantaviruses, such as Sochi virus, frequency of clinical cases as well as their clinical course are comparable between children and adults. Therefore, hantavirus disease, particularly in regions endemic to highly pathogenic hantaviruses, should be considered in cases of unclear fever and kidney/pulmonary failure in children.
BACKGROUND: Very recently, a novel European hantavirus, Sochi virus, has been discovered which causes severe courses of hantavirus disease with a case fatality rate of about 15 percent. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to study to which extent and with which clinical severity children were affected by Sochi virus infection. STUDY DESIGN:Sochi virus infection of patients was confirmed by molecular, serological, and epizoonotic studies. Clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed for the age group of up to 15 years (n = 6) in comparison to all older patients (n = 56). RESULTS: 9.7 percent of patients with hantavirus disease studied (6/62) were up to 15 years old. The children showed moderate to severe clinical courses similarly to the situation in adults. CONCLUSIONS: While children are in general considered to be less affected by hantavirus infections than adults, in case of highly pathogenic hantaviruses, such as Sochi virus, frequency of clinical cases as well as their clinical course are comparable between children and adults. Therefore, hantavirus disease, particularly in regions endemic to highly pathogenic hantaviruses, should be considered in cases of unclear fever and kidney/pulmonary failure in children.
Authors: Ana Cláudia Pereira Terças-Trettel; Alba Valéria Gomes de Melo; Sandra Mara Fernandes Bonilha; Josdemar Muniz de Moraes; Renata Carvalho de Oliveira; Alexandro Guterres; Jorlan Fernandes; Marina Atanaka; Mariano Martinez Espinosa; Luciana Sampaio; Sumako Kinoshieta Ueda; Elba Regina Sampaio de Lemos Journal: Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo Date: 2019-12-20 Impact factor: 1.846