Human metapneumovirus infections—biannual epidemics and clinical findings in children in the region of Basel, Switzerland

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) epidemics vary in time and severity. We report findings for PCR for hMPV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) performed on nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) of hospitalized and outpatient children with respiratory tract infections between October 2004 and April 2008. A total of 3,934 NPAs were tested for hMPV and 3,859 for RSV. Of these, 198 (5%) were hMPV positive and 869 (23%) were RSV-positive. Median age was 17months and 9months for hMPV and RSV, respectively. Fifty-nine percent of hMPV and 58% of RSV patients were hospitalized. Proportions of hMPV positive samples for the four winter seasons were 0.4%, 11%, 0.2%, and 14%. For RSV, they were 28%, 15%, 28%, and 28%. HMPV epidemics follow a biannual variation in our area. Major epidemics were observed in winter seasons starting in odd years (2005/06 and 2007/08), minor epidemics in those starting in even years (2004/05 and 2006/07). RSV epidemics usually follow a reciprocal biannual pattern, leading to annually alternating major RSV and hMPV epidemic

Human metapneumovirus infections - biannual epidemics and clinical findings in children in the region of Basel, Switzerland

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) epidemics vary in time and severity. We report findings for PCR for hMPV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) performed on nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) of hospitalized and outpatient children with respiratory tract infections between October 2004 and April 2008. A total of 3,934 NPAs were tested for hMPV and 3,859 for RSV. Of these, 198 (5%) were hMPV positive and 869 (23%) were RSV-positive. Median age was 17 months and 9 months for hMPV and RSV, respectively. Fifty-nine percent of hMPV and 58% of RSV patients were hospitalized. Proportions of hMPV positive samples for the four winter seasons were 0.4%, 11%, 0.2%, and 14%. For RSV, they were 28%, 15%, 28%, and 28%. HMPV epidemics follow a biannual variation in our area. Major epidemics were observed in winter seasons starting in odd years (2005/06 and 2007/08), minor epidemics in those starting in even years (2004/05 and 2006/07). RSV epidemics usually follow a reciprocal biannual pattern, leading to annually alternating major RSV and hMPV epidemics

Search for Scalar Diphoton Resonances in the Mass Range 65−60065-600 GeV with the ATLAS Detector in pppp Collision Data at s\sqrt{s} = 8 TeVTeV

A search for scalar particles decaying via narrow resonances into two photons in the mass range 65–600 GeV is performed using $20.3\text{}\text{}{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=8\text{}\text{}\mathrm{TeV}$ $pp$ collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The recently discovered Higgs boson is treated as a background. No significant evidence for an additional signal is observed. The results are presented as limits at the 95% confidence level on the production cross section of a scalar boson times branching ratio into two photons, in a fiducial volume where the reconstruction efficiency is approximately independent of the event topology. The upper limits set extend over a considerably wider mass range than previous searches