Wu P.-S.LUAN-YIN CHANGBerkhout B.Van Der Hoek L.CHUN-YI LUCHUAN-LIANG KAOPING-ING LEEPEI-LAN SHAOLee C.-Y.Huang F.-Y.LI-MIN HUANG2020-07-032020-07-0320080340-6199https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/508026Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) is a global respiratory tract pathogen; however, the epidemiology of this virus in subtropical area is not well known. To evaluate the epidemics and disease spectrum of HCoV-NL63 infection in children in Taiwan, we prospectively screened children admitted to the hospital with respiratory tract infection from May 2004 to April 2005. Every enrolled child had a nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) sample taken. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect 1b gene of HCoV-NL63. A total of 539 NPAs were collected. Seven (1.3%) were positive for HCoV-NL63. All cases were boys younger than 3 years of age and most cases occurred in autumn. Co-infection with other pathogens was observed in three cases. The most common symptoms/signs of HCoV-NL63 infection were cough, fever, and inspiratory stridor. HCoV-NL63 was the most common pathogen (14.7%) in children with croup and was the cause of three cases of croup in October. The odds ratio of croup in children infected with HCoV-NL63 was 43.4 (95% CI 8.1?233.1). In conclusion, HCoV-NL63 is an important respiratory tract pathogen as the main cause in children admitted to the hospital in Taiwan. ? 2007 Springer-Verlag.[SDGs]SDG3article; child hospitalization; clinical evaluation; clinical feature; cluster analysis; controlled study; coughing; croup; fever; human; human coronavirus nl63; laboratory test; major clinical study; male; pathogenesis; preschool child; prevalence; priority journal; Respiratory syncytial pneumovirus; respiratory tract infection; reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; risk; stridor; Taiwan; thorax radiography; virus infection; Child, Preschool; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Infections; Croup; Humans; Incidence; Infant; Male; Prospective Studies; Respiratory Tract Infections; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Seasons; Taiwan; Viral Loadjournal article10.1007/s00431-007-0429-8172976122-s2.0-36349027048