Newly discovered respiratory viruses
With the recent advances in molecular biology and the ability to amplify virus genomes in a non-sequence-dependent manner, several previously unidentified human respiratory viruses have recently been discovered. There are accumulating data that some of these new pathogens are responsible for a substantial proportion of respiratory tract diseases, particularly in children. This review focuses on several of these newly identified pathogens for which there are clinical data implicating a role of these viruses in respiratory tract disease specifically, human metapneumovirus, human coronaviruses NL63 and HKU1, and the human bocavirus. Antivirals and effective vaccines for these new agents may decrease the burden of respiratory tract diseases.
Tags: Biology, Emerging disease, Health, Medicine, Microbiology, Science, Virology
