Rhinovirus implicated in hospitalizations

NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists, using a fast-acting diagnostic tool, identified the cause of severe pediatric infections hospitalizing children in Germany.

Columbia University researchers implicated a new human rhinovirus, or HRV, as the cause of the severe respiratory illnesses in Germany requiring hospitalization. The findings are published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

"Acute respiratory infection is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. Accurate identification of causative agents is critical to case management and to prioritization in vaccine development," senior author Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Mailman School of Public Health in New York, said in a statement.

The results of the study confirm earlier findings in New York that the viruses represent a clinically significant, but previously unappreciated, species within the entero/rhinoviruses -- one of the longest known and most intensely studied virus groups, study coordinator Thomas Briese said.

"We urgently need drugs and vaccines to address the challenges they pose to child health," Briese said in a statement.