Detection of human metapneumovirus RNA sequences in nasopharyngeal aspirates of young French children with acute bronchiolitis by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR and phylogenetic analysis.

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) was the unique viral pathogen detected by a real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) assay in 6 (6.4%) of 94 consecutive French children hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis from September 2001 to June 2002. This virus was identified as the third etiological cause of bronchiolitis, after respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus (35 [37%] and 21 [22%] of 94 cases, respectively). Phylogenetic analysis of F-gene sequences demonstrated the cocirculation of distinct HMPV genotypes during this study. These findings highlight the need to implement a rapid HMPV RT-PCR detection assay for the clinical diagnosis of respiratory infections in pediatric patients with bronchiolitis.