The molecular epidemiology of human coronaviruses 229E

A combined human coronavirus 229E/OC43 nested multiplex nucleocapsid gene PCR and South-western blotting protocol was developed and utilised to screen clinical specimens for the presence of human coronaviruses 229F and human coronaviruses OC43. Clinical specimens comprised 100 nasal washings obtained from children with asthma at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, U.K. in 1990 and 200 nasal secretions obtained from adults presenting with the common cold in Kumasi, Ghana, in 1993. Fourteen of the U.K. clinical specimens were found to contain human coronaviruses (12 human coronavirus 229E and 2 human coronavirus OC43) whilst 43 of the African clinical specimens were found to contain human coronaviruses (26 human coronavirus 229E and 17 human coronaviruses OC430).;A nested human coronavirus 229E spike gene cycle sequencing PCR protocol was also developed and utilised to generate sequence data from the spike genes of chronologically and geographically distinct human coronaviruses 229E (these chronologically and geographically distinct human coronavirus 229E isolates comprising :- a) reference human coronavirus 229E American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) strain VR-74, b) U.K. human coronavirus 229E isolate LR! 281 and c) African human coronavirus 229E isolate A162). Sequence data was obtained from approximately 90% of the spike genes of these isolates.;When the resultant human coronavirus 229E spike gene sequences were translated into protein and compared with one another, it was found that the translated human coronavirus spike protein sequences were relatively similar between these chronologically and geographically distinct isolates. These results may indicate that spike gene variation is not a major factor in the aetiology of human coronavirus 229E re-infection.