Abstract
Background To analyze the epidemic characteristics of the human
rhinovirus (HRV) outbreaks in Guangzhou, China, in 2020.
Method Descriptive epidemiological methods were used to
analysis the HRV related outbreaks of Guangzhou, 2020.
Results 17 outbreaks were reported in 2020 during the COVID-19
pandemic in Guangzhou, a total of 465 patients (290 males and 175
females) were enrolled, with a median age of 10. 223(47.96%) had been
tested for HRV, 89 (39.91%) of which were positive. 344/465 (73.98%)
had fever, 138/465 (29.68%) had runny nose, 139/465 (29.89%) had sore
throat, 86/465 (18.49%) had cough, 41/465 (8.82%) had headache, 37/465
(7.96%) had sneeze. Patients at age of 13 to 15 had the highest rate of
sore throat and runny nose, patients at the age of 11 to 12 had the
highest rate of sneeze, and patients at age of 12 to 14 had the highest
rate of positive rate. Patients tested positive had a higher rate of
fever (χ2 =11.271, P =0.001), cough
(χ2 =6.987, P =0.008), runny nose
(χ2 =7.980, P =0.005) and sneeze
(χ2 =4.676, P =0.031).
Conclusion The HRV was restored during the fighting the
COVID-19 Pandemic. The conventional COVID-19 control measures were not
effective enough in preventing rhinovirus. More appropriate control
measures should be used to control HRV.
Key Words : Human Rhinovirus (HRV); Outbreaks; Coronavirus
Disease 2019 (COVID-19); Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
(SARS-COV-2); Pandemic;
Human Rhinoviruses (HRV) are the most common pathogens of the “common
cold”, and caused more than half of the “common cold” was caused by
HRV1. HRV was designated as A, B and C groups, within
the genus Enterovirus and the familyPicornaviridae 2. The main symptoms of the
“cold” caused by HRV infection are low fever, cough, runny nose, etc.,
and was a self-limited disease in most conditions3.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to an
unprecedented level of concern about the fever cases. The most common
strategy for the control of the unexplained fever event during the
COVID-19 pandemic was to test for the nucleic acid of the severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) and influenza virus,
however, we detected and found both SARS-COV-2 and influenza were
negative, and proved to be HRV infection finally. Studies have reported
that interference among respiratory viruses could affect the infection
of the host at a large scale population level4-6,
influenza virus was the most observed and studied respiratory virus,
Anchi Wu et al 7 found that rhinovirus disrupted
the 2019 influenza A virus pandemic in Europe and indicated that the
respiratory viral interference can potentially affect the seasonal
influenza epidemics and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed the
outbreaks of the HRV infection in Guangzhou City during the fight
against COVID-19 pandemic, and enhanced the understanding of the
prevention and control of rhinovirus outbreaks, and thus provide a
better evidence for the interference of the respiratory virus during the
COVID-19 pandemic, and thus control the pandemic.