Human parainfluenza 2 & 4: Clinical and genetic epidemiology in the UK, 2013-2017, reveals distinct disease features

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 20, 2025

Multi-target Parallel Processing Approach for Gene-to-structure Determination of the Influenza Polymerase PB2 Subunit
22:10

Multi-target Parallel Processing Approach for Gene-to-structure Determination of the Influenza Polymerase PB2 Subunit

Published on: June 28, 2013

13.4K

Akhil Chellapuri1, Matthew Smitheman1, Joseph G Chappell1,2

  • 1School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.

Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses
|June 8, 2022
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

Human Parainfluenza viruses (HPIV) 2 and 4 cause respiratory infections, with HPIV4 being more common but HPIV2 leading to more hospitalizations. This study differentiates their clinical and epidemiological features.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Epidemiology
  • Clinical Medicine

Background:

  • Human Parainfluenza viruses (HPIV) cause significant respiratory infections globally, particularly in children.
  • HPIV are classified into Respirovirus (HPIV1&3) and Orthorubulavirus (HPIV2&4) genera.
  • HPIV2 and HPIV4 are often overlooked despite frequent molecular diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the clinical and epidemiological distinctions between Human Parainfluenza virus 2 (HPIV2) and Human Parainfluenza virus 4 (HPIV4).
  • To analyze HPIV2 and HPIV4 infections across four autumn/winter seasons in a UK hospital setting.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective audit of clinical features for HPIV2 or HPIV4 RT-PCR-positive patients.
  • Patient data collected between September 2013 and April 2017.
  • Partial viral genome sequencing for a subset of samples.

Main Results:

  • Infections occurred across all age groups, predominantly in children under nine and adults over 40.
  • HPIV4 cases were nearly twice as common as HPIV2 cases.
  • HPIV2 infections were associated with more frequent fever, abnormal hematology, elevated C-reactive protein, and hospital admission compared to HPIV4.

Conclusions:

  • Despite genetic relatedness, HPIV2 and HPIV4 exhibit distinct disease associations.
  • HPIV2 mono-infections were linked to higher hospitalization rates.
  • HPIV4 infections occurred more frequently overall, indicating a greater public health impact in terms of case numbers.
Keywords:
Human orthorubulavirus 2Human orthorubulavirus 4Human parainfluenza 2Human parainfluenza 4Orthorubulavirusrespiratory infection

More Related Videos

Use of an Influenza Antigen Microarray to Measure the Breadth of Serum Antibodies Across Virus Subtypes08:52

Use of an Influenza Antigen Microarray to Measure the Breadth of Serum Antibodies Across Virus Subtypes

Published on: July 26, 2019

8.2K
Influenza A Virus Studies in a Mouse Model of Infection10:44

Influenza A Virus Studies in a Mouse Model of Infection

Published on: September 7, 2017

28.9K

Related Concept Videos

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs01:05

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs

A single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP is a single nucleotide variation at a specific genomic position in a large population. It is the most prevalent type of sequence variation found in the human genome. Point mutations that occur in more than 1% of the population qualify as SNPs. These are present once every 1000 nucleotides on an average in the human genome. Replacement of a purine with another purine (A/G) or a pyrimidine with another pyrimidine (C/T) is known as a transition. In contrast,...
16.0K
Viral Recombination00:57

Viral Recombination

Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.
23.8K
Viral Mutations00:36

Viral Mutations

A mutation is a change in the sequence of bases of DNA or RNA in a genome. Some mutations occur during replication of the genome due to errors made by the polymerase enzymes that replicate DNA or RNA. Unlike DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase is prone to errors because it is not capable of “proofreading” its work. Viruses with RNA-based genomes, like HIV, therefore accrue mutations faster than viruses with DNA-based genomes. Because mutation and recombination provide the raw material...
33.3K
Leaky Scanning02:28

Leaky Scanning

During most eukaryotic translation processes, the small 40S ribosome subunit scans an mRNA from its 5' end until it encounters the first start AUG codon. The large 60S ribosomal subunit then joins the smaller one to initiate protein synthesis. The location of the translation initiation is largely determined by the nucleotides near the start codon as there may be multiple translation initiation sites present on the mRNA.  Marilyn Kozak discovered that the sequence RCCAUGG (where R...
5.2K