Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
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It is unknown to what extent the human coronaviruses (HCoVs) OC43, HKU1, 229E and NL63 infect healthy children. Frequencies of infections are only known for hospitalized children. ⋯ HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-OC43 infections occur frequently in early childhood, more often than HCoV-HKU1 or HCoV-229E infections. HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-NL63 may elicit immunity that protects from subsequent HCoV-HKU1 and HCoV-229E infection, respectively, which would explain why HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-NL63 are the most frequently infecting HCoVs. There are no indications that infection by one of the HCoVs is more pathogenic than others.
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A 33-year-old man with a history of acute lower abdominal pain was admitted to the emergency room. After laparoscopic appendectomy and pathological confirmed acute appendicitis the patient developed thrombocytopenia and acute renal failure. Serological testing for hantaviruses revealed a positive result for PUUV IgG and IgM. ⋯ The high percentage of patients with hantavirus infection and severe abdominal pain is remarkable and, up to now, unexplained. To our knowledge this is the first report demonstrating PUUV antigen in the human intestine. Further studies are warranted whether hantaviruses are setting the stage for a secondary bacterial infection or cause an inflammation itself.