Abstract
This study reports the epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in hospitalized children in Cyprus over three successive seasons (2010-2013) and the association between prevalent genotypes and disease severity. RSV infections had a circulation pattern from December to March. Most RSV-positive children (83%) were aged <2 years. Genotyping of RSV isolates showed that during the first winter season of the study (2010-2011), the only RSV genotype circulating was GA2 (RSV-A), followed by genotype BA (RSV-B) in the next winter season with only few sporadic cases of GA2. During the last winter season of the study (2012-2013) the newly emerged RSV genotype ON1 (RSV-A) was virtually the only circulating genotype. Children infected with genotype ON1 suffered a significantly milder illness compared to infections with genotypes GA2 and BA with a higher percentage of BA-infected children requiring oxygen. Our findings are in contrast to the majority of published reports that suggest RSV-A causes more severe illness than RSV-B. Therefore, further investigation of the association between RSV genotypes and disease severity is required, as it might affect treatment strategies in the future.
