Stability and Age-Specific Patterns of Rhinovirus Circulation in Children Over Three Decades

Authors

• YingYu Gao, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Yury A. Bochkov, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Kristine E. Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Ronald Gangnon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Leonard B. Bacharier, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States.
• William W. Busse, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Carlos A. Camargo, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
• Robyn Cohen, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States.
• Gregory P. Demuri, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Anne M. Fitzpatrick, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States.
• Peter J. Gergen, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, United States.
• Kristine Grindle, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Rebecca Gruchalla, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, United States.
• Tina Hartert, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States.
• Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
• Patrick Holt, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
• Kiara Homil, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
• Daniel J. Jackson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Tuomas Jartti, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.
• Meyer Kattan, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
• Carolyn Kercsmar, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
• Haejin Kim, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI, United States.
• Ingrid A. Laing, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
• Robert F. Lemanske, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Peter N. Le Souëf, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
• Andrew H. Liu, Children's Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States.
• David T. Mauger, Penn State University, Hershey, PA, United States.
• Tressa Pappas, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
• Shilpa J. Patel, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
• Wanda Phipatanakul, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
• Jacqueline Pongracic, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States.
• Christine Seroogy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

4-20-2026

Journal

The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology

DOI

10.1016/j.jaci.2026.03.027

Keywords

Age-specific prevalence; Antiviral targets; CDHR3 genotype; NIH ECHO cohort; Pediatric respiratory infections; Respiratory virus stability; Rhinovirus epidemiology; Vaccine development; Viral circulation patterns; Viral phylogenetics

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Rhinoviruses (RV) are the most common respiratory viruses globally and a major cause of airway symptoms in children and individuals with asthma. Although more than 170 RV types exist across three species (RV-A, RV-B, RV-C), type-specific circulation patterns and age-related prevalence remain poorly defined. OBJECTIVE: To characterize long-term circulation patterns, age-specific prevalence, and host genetic associations of RV types using a large pediatric dataset. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 12,697 RV infections identified by PCR and partial sequencing from 11,960 nasal samples collected between 1997 and 2025 across 20 pediatric populations in Finland, Australia, and the United States, including 10 NIH ECHO cohort sites. RV types were classified by species, and host CDHR3 rs6967330 genotype, which impacts RV-C receptor binding, was available for a subset. Temporal stability, phylogenetic clustering, and detection frequency by age were assessed using streamgraph visualization, slope modeling, and Spearman correlation. RESULTS: RV type circulation was remarkably stable over three decades; 97% of types had slope estimates whose 95% confidence intervals included zero, indicating no significant temporal change. Commonly detected types did not consistently cluster phylogenetically, suggesting that capsid sequence similarity does not fully explain fitness. Certain types (e.g., A36, A101, C15) were prevalent across all pediatric age groups, whereas others (e.g., C2, C40, A78, A12) were more frequent in younger children. The CDHR3 rs6967330-A risk allele was associated with increased overall RV-C infection but it did not alter the distribution of common versus rare RV-C types. CONCLUSION: RV type prevalence and age-specific patterns have remained stable for decades, supporting targeted interventions focused on consistently circulating types and those most common in young children.

APA Citation

Gao, YingYu; Bochkov, Yury A.; Lee, Kristine E.; Gangnon, Ronald; Bacharier, Leonard B.; Busse, William W.; Camargo, Carlos A.; Cohen, Robyn; Demuri, Gregory P.; Fitzpatrick, Anne M.; Gergen, Peter J.; Grindle, Kristine; Gruchalla, Rebecca; Hartert, Tina; Khurana Hershey, Gurjit K.; Holt, Patrick; Homil, Kiara; Jackson, Daniel J.; Jartti, Tuomas; Kattan, Meyer; Kercsmar, Carolyn; Kim, Haejin; Laing, Ingrid A.; Lemanske, Robert F.; Le Souëf, Peter N.; Liu, Andrew H.; Mauger, David T.; Pappas, Tressa; Patel, Shilpa J.; Phipatanakul, Wanda; Pongracic, Jacqueline; and Seroogy, Christine, "Stability and Age-Specific Patterns of Rhinovirus Circulation in Children Over Three Decades" (2026). GW Authored Works. Paper 9033.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/9033

Department

Pediatrics