Abstract
In order to improve clinical management and prevention of viral infections in hospitalised children improved etiological insight is needed. The aim of the present study was to assess the spectrum of respiratory viral pathogens in children admitted to hospital with acute respiratory tract infections in Cyprus. For this purpose nasopharyngeal swab samples from 424 children less than 12 years of age with acute respiratory tract infections were collected over three epidemic seasons and were analysed for the presence of the most common 15 respiratory viruses. A viral pathogen was identified in 86% of the samples, with multiple infections being observed in almost 20% of the samples. The most frequently detected viruses were RSV (30.4%) and Rhinovirus (27.4%). RSV exhibited a clear seasonality with marked peaks in January/February, while rhinovirus infections did not exhibit a pronounced seasonality being detected almost throughout the year. While RSV and PIV3 incidence decreased significantly with age, the opposite was observed for influenza A and B as well as adenovirus infections. The data presented expand our understanding of the epidemiology of viral respiratory tract infections in Cypriot children and will be helpful to the clinicians and researchers interested in the treatment and control of viral respiratory tract infections.
Highlights
Viral Respiratory tract infections (RTI) represent a major public health problem because of their world-wide occurrence, ease of transmission and considerable morbidity and mortality effecting people of all ages
Illnesses caused by respiratory viruses include, among others, common colds, pharyngitis, croup, bronchiolitis, viral pneumonia and otitis media
Between November 2010 and October 2013, 485 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from children up to 12 years of age, who had been hospitalized with acute respiratory tract infection at the Archbishop Makarios III hospital, Nicosia
Summary
Viral Respiratory tract infections (RTI) represent a major public health problem because of their world-wide occurrence, ease of transmission and considerable morbidity and mortality effecting people of all ages. Children are on average infected two to three times more frequently than adults, with acute RTIs being the most common infection in childhood [1,2]. Illnesses caused by respiratory viruses include, among others, common colds, pharyngitis, croup, bronchiolitis, viral pneumonia and otitis media. RTIs are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Acute RTI is most common in children under five years of age, and represents 30–50% of the paediatric medical admissions, as well as 20–40% of hospitalizations in children. The leading viral agents include respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza A and B (INF-A, INF-B) viruses, parainfluenza viruses (PIVs), and human
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