Speaker
Description
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a leading cause of respiratory infections in children. As a range of novel pharmaceutical interventions for RSV being are introduced this year, it is more important than ever to have a robust understanding of the genetic diversity of RSV.
To facilitate this, we have developed a novel RSV sequencing approach and analysis pipeline for Illumina and Nanopore platforms. We designed two primer schemes, one each for RSV A and B, which can slot into any existing amplicon-based sequencing infrastructure, such as the ARTIC SARS-CoV-2 workflows. Furthermore, we have developed a novel bioinformatics workflow that handles the multiplexing and analysis of these primer schemes, allowing quick and efficient RSV analysis in both research and healthcare settings.
To validate these primer schemes and analysis workflows, 10 labs from 6 countries around the world used these primers in their workflows and produced over 300 RSV sequences ranging from 2014 - 2023. Phylogenetic analysis of these sequences indicated that there is a diversity of RSV lineages circulating at any given time, with all countries showing multiple lineages co-circulating. 3 major RSVA lineages were detected between the 2020 and 2023 seasons (A.D.5 – 35%, A.D.3 – 25% and A.D.1 – 24%) in our sample set (n=181), however RSVB (n=162) was predominated by a single lineage B.D.E.1 (75%) during this time period.
To further investigate lineage diversity, we sequenced all available RSV cases referred to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh during the 2023 winter season, where a similar set of lineages identified at the global level were present in Scotland. Although in this study we identified some potential RSV clusters, these results suggest that the majority of RSV cases are genetically distinct from one another, suggesting multiple seeding events, and highlights the utility of high-throughput sequencing methods and ready-to-go bioinformatics workflows within healthcare settings.
