frequent detection and genotyping of human rhinovirus in sars-cov-2 negative patients; a study from south of iran

Background and objectives: human rhinovirus (hrv), a major cause of common cold, was associated to the hospitaliza- tion of children and adults. this cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence, and genotype distribution of hrv in the patients with mild to severe respiratory infections who were negative for sars-cov-2.materials and methods: nasopharyngeal swab specimens (n = 356) from the patients aged 29 days to 82 years, received for the respiratory virus detection from january to december 2021, were analyzed for human rhinovirus (hrv) by rt- pcr. as a final step, genotyping was performed on obtained sequences.results: a total of 37 hrv infections were identified (37/356, 10%). the highest rates of positive hrv tests were observed in february (21.6%), and january (18.9%), compared with june and august (0%). hrv-positive cases mainly appeared in winter. among the age groups, those 2-<5 years of age had the highest detection rate (21%), however, those >55 years of age had the lowest detection rate (3%). among hrv-positive samples, 30 (81%) were identified as type hrv-a, 5 (13.5%) as hrv-b, and 2 (5.5%) as hrv-c.conclusion: our results suggested that hrv frequency gradually decreased with the age of patients which is more active iniran, especially in the cold months.