Human Coronavirus NL63

Burtram C Fielding

Future Microbiol. 2011;6(2):153-159.

Future Perspective

New data concerning HCoV-NL63 and other HCoVs indicate that HCoVs may be more clinically important in children and the immunocompromised than previously thought. Since vaccines are not currently available for these respiratory viruses, it is necessary to monitor epidemic patterns and investigate the spread of respiratory infections to efficiently identify, control and prevent epidemics. More comprehensive population-based studies are required to determine the involvement of HCoV-NL63 in other body systems. Also, the development of technologies to accurately identify HCoV-NL63 infections will shed light on the true incidence of this virus in the human population.

Finally, a detailed manipulation of the HCoV-NL63 genome to understand the role of the HCoV-NL63 viral genes in pathogenesis and replication, and for the subsequent development of HCoV-NL63 as a vaccine vector, is needed. This, however, is hampered by the poor growth of the virus in cell culture, as well as the lack of an appropriate animal model. The recent development of the first full-length infectious clone of HCoV-NL63 allows for the systematic experimental study – genes can be modified and/or deleted from the genome – of the functions of the various corresponding HCoV-NL63 proteins, which will lead to a better understanding of the role of the viral genes in infectivity and pathogenicity. This manipulation of the virus genome, in turn, provides a reverse genetics platform that can lead to the development of HCoV-NL63-based vector vaccines.^[76]

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Cite this: Human Coronavirus NL63 - Medscape - Feb 01, 2011.

Table 1. Incidence of HCoV-NL63 in clinical samples.
Country	Method used for detection	Incidence (%; sample size)	Ref.
Australia	RT-PCR	3.30 (234)	[31]
Belgium	RT-PCR	2.30 (309)	[29]
Canada	RT-PCR	3.60 (525)	[18]
France	RT-PCR	9.30 (300)	[25]
Germany	Real-time RT-PCR	5.20 (949)	[28,30]
China	RT-PCR	2.60 (587)	[19]
Italy	RT-PCR	1.86 (150)	[27]
Japan	RT-PCR	1.20 (419)	[24]
Japan	RT-PCR	2.50 (118)	[22]
South Korea	RT-PCR	1.60 (515)	[20]
Taiwan	Quantitative RT-PCR	1.30 (539)	[43]
Thailand	RT-PCR	0.42 (1890)	[44]
South Africa	RT-PCR	8.30 (238)	[26]
Switzerland	RT-PCR	7.00 (82)	[23]
Sweden	RT-PCR	6.00 (212)	[32]
USA	RT-PCR	2.20 (1683)	[21]
South Korea	Multiplex RT-PCR	16.5 (182)	[17]
Germany	Real-time RT-PCR	3.90 (1756)	[5]
Norway	Multiplex real-time PCR	4.50 (536)	[33]

RT-PCR: Reverse transcription PCR.
Modified from [74].

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Executive Summary

Prevalence & seasonal incidence

Human coronavirus (HCoV)-NL63 has a worldwide distribution.
HCoV-NL63 infections peak in winter and have an interepidemic period of 2 years.

Respiratory clinical findings

HCoV-NL63 infects both the upper and lower respiratory tracts.
Infection with HCoV-NL63 is often associated with more severe lower respiratory tract infections and subsequent hospitalization.
Lower respiratory tract symptoms include croup and bronchiolitis.

Nonrespiratory clinical findings

The majority of studies did not find an association between HCoV-NL63 infection and Kawasaki disease.
HCoV-NL63 has been detected in a small number of diarrhea stool samples.

Coinfections with other respiratory viruses

Coinfections with other well known respiratory viruses are very common.
HCoV-NL63 viral load is higher in patients infected with HCoV-NL63 alone.
Patients with coinfections are more likely to be hospitalized.

Future perspective

More comprehensive population-based studies are needed to determine the involvement of HCoV-NL63 in the infection of systems other than the respiratory tract.
The development of the HCoV-NL63 infectious clone will greatly aid in understanding this virus.
An animal model is required for virus study and vaccine development.

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Human Coronavirus NL63

Future Perspective

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