Journal article icon

Journal article

Targeted metagenomics reveals association between severity and pathogen co-detection in infants with respiratory syncytial virus

Abstract:
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of hospitalisation for respiratory infection in young children. RSV disease severity is known to be age-dependent and highest in young infants, but other correlates of severity, particularly the presence of additional respiratory pathogens, are less well understood. In this study, nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from two cohorts of RSV-positive infants <12 months in Spain, the UK, and the Netherlands during 2017–20. We show, using targeted metagenomic sequencing of >100 pathogens, including all common respiratory viruses and bacteria, from samples collected from 433 infants, that burden of additional viruses is common (111/433, 26%) but only modestly correlates with RSV disease severity. In contrast, there is strong evidence in both cohorts and across age groups that presence of Haemophilus bacteria (194/433, 45%) is associated with higher severity, including much higher rates of hospitalisation (odds ratio 4.25, 95% CI 2.03–9.31). There is no evidence for association between higher severity and other detected bacteria, and no difference in severity between RSV genotypes. Our findings reveal the genomic diversity of additional pathogens during RSV infection in infants, and provide an evidence base for future causal investigations of the impact of co-infection on RSV disease severity.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

Actions


Access Document


Files:
Publisher copy:
10.1038/s41467-024-46648-3

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Paediatrics
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-9950-318X
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Paediatrics
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-6350-6557
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Paediatrics
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Paediatrics
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-6902-9886
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
NDM
Sub department:
NDM Experimental Medicine
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-6751-3300

Contributors

Role:
Contributor


Publisher:
Springer Nature
Journal:
Nature Communications More from this journal
Volume:
15
Issue:
1
Article number:
2379
Place of publication:
England
Publication date:
2024-03-16
Acceptance date:
2024-02-23
DOI:
EISSN:
2041-1723
Pmid:
38493135


Language:
English
Pubs id:
1835410
Local pid:
pubs:1835410
Deposit date:
2024-03-21

Terms of use



Views and Downloads






If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record

TO TOP