Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Saffold virus infection in children with acute respiratory tract infection in Hangzhou

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Saffold virus (SAFV) infection in outpatient and hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infections (ARI). Methods A total of 1 060 clinical specimens were collected from children with ARI in the Affiliated Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine from March 2011 to February 2014, including 256 samples of throat swabs from outpatients, and 804 samples of trachea suctions from hospitalized patients. Real time PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to detect 5’UTR segment of SAFV. SPSS 17.0 software was used to analyze the test results and clinical data. Results The positive detection rates of SAFV in outpatients and hospitalized children with ARI were 2.3% (6/256) and 13.2% (106/804), respectively (χ2=24.147, P 0.05). The positive rates of SAFV in males and females were 12.7% and 17.7% (χ2=0.279, P>0.05). The detection rate of SAFV in autumn was highest (21.2%), followed by that in spring (14.6%), winter (9.5%) and summer (8.8%) (χ2=15.625, P<0.01). The co-infection rates with other respiratory pathogens of hospitalized and outpatients children were 76.4% (81/106) and 66.7% (4/6). Among the hospitalized patients, the rate of co-infection with respiratory syncytial virus was the highest (36.8%), followed by rhinovirus (27.4%), metapneumovirus (10.4%) and parainfluenza virus (10.4%). Among children with ARI, the fever rate of SAFV-positive cases was lower than that of SAFV-negative cases (χ2=4.069, P<0.05). Conclusions The detection rate of SAFV in hospitalized children with ARI is significantly higher than that in outpatients, and SAFV infection was dominated by co-infection. The prevalence of SAFV in the Hangzhou area presents a certain local epidemic pattern. Key words: Cardiovirus; Saffold virus; Respirovirus infections; Epidemiological characteristics