Prevalence of Human Metapneumovirus among patients presenting with influenza-like symptoms from selected hospitals in Uganda

Abstract

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an RNA virus which has been associated with upper and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in children and adults. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of HMPV among patients with flu-like symptoms in selected hospitals in Uganda. A retrospective study was carried out on archived nasopharyngeal swabs collected from selected hospital sites during an influenza surveillance study done by MUWRP-EIDP within the period of 2019 to 2020 from participants presenting with influenza-like symptoms. HMPV infection was detected by reverse transcriptase PCR, then real time RT-PCR Positive samples were cultured and the isolates detected for HMPV infection as a confirmatory test. Odds ratio and Confidence interval were calculated to measure the association between HMPV prevalence, Sex, Hospital site and Age distribution. Of the 4733 tested archived samples, 1.3% (62) were detected positive for HMPV. The prevalence of HMPV among Females (1.4%) was high as compared to Male (1.2%). The hospital site from which samples had been obtained showed a positive correlation with HMPV infection evidenced by the statistically significant p-value of 0.003. The site with the highest prevalence was MNRH (1.9%), followed by GRRH (1.5%), then JRRH (0.7%) and lastly Kiruddu National Referral Hospital (0%). Children under 5 years of age had a higher prevalence of 1.5%, followed by participants between the age 6 to 15 years with prevalence of 0.5% and above 15 years prevalence of 0% was recorded. A total of 24 HMPV reverse transcriptase PCR positive isolates were obtained. In conclusion, HMPV is less prevalent in Uganda with a high prevalence in children less than 5 years, females and at Mulago National Referral Hospital.