Prevalence of Common Human Coronaviruses (NL63, 229E, and OC43) in Adults before the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Single-Center Study from Turkey, 2015–2020

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases Vol. 76; no. 1; pp. 27 - 33
• Main Authors: Sonmezer, Meliha Cagla, Sahin, Taha Koray, Erul, Enes, Dizman, Gulcin Telli, Inkaya, Ahmet Cagkan, Alp, Alparslan, Alp, Sehnaz, Unal, Serhat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan National Institute of Infectious Diseases 31.01.2023; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Adult; adult population; Adults; Coinfection - epidemiology; Coronavirus OC43, Human - genetics; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Epidemiology; human coronavirus; Humans; Pandemics; Polymerase chain reaction; Prevalence; Respiratory tract; Respiratory tract diseases; Respiratory Tract Infections - epidemiology; respiratory viruses; Retrospective Studies; Rhinovirus; Turkey - epidemiology; Viral diseases; Viruses; Turkey; COVID-19; prevalence; human coronavirus; respiratory viruses; adult population
• ISSN: 1344-6304; 1884-2836
• DOI: 10.7883/yoken.JJID.2022.255

Common Human Coronaviruses (HCoVs), such as NL63, HKU1, 229E, and OC43, induce respiratory tract infections worldwide. Epidemiological studies of HCoVs are of paramount importance because the disease burden and trajectory (in years) have not been well addressed in adults. Here, we aimed to describe the burden of HCoVs in a hospital setting over five years before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This was a retrospective study of patients (>18 years) between January 1, 2015, and January 1, 2020, whose respiratory specimens were tested by multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction. In total, 7,861 respiratory samples (4,540 patients) were included, 38% of which tested positive for any respiratory virus. Of these, 212 (12.2%) samples were positive for HCoVs, and their co-infection with other respiratory viruses was 30.6%. Rhinovirus (27.6%) was the most common co-infection among all three HCoVs. The overall prevalence of HCoVs tended to be the highest in the winter (40.9%). Patients aged ≥60 years had the highest prevalence of overall HCoVs (39.7%). Given the duration and large sample size, this study from Turkey is one of the largest to date among adults in the literature. These epidemiological data and molecular surveillance of HCoVs have important implications for the control and prevention of respiratory infections.