Clinical epidemiologic features of acute lower respiratory virus infections in children

Abstract

Objective To explore the clinical epidemiologic features of respiratory virus infections in children. Methods There were 560 specimens of nasopharyngeal swabs from acute lower respiratory virus infection (ALRTI) patients from May, 2012 to April, 2013 to detect seven kinds of respiratory viruses (respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus type A and type B, parainfluenza virus type 1, 2, 3 and adenovirus) by direct fluorescence assay. Meanwhile, the relationships between respiratory virus detection rate with different seasons, ages, genders, diseases were analyzed and 56 cases of respiratory virus-positive were monitored dynamically. Results There were 138 cases of respiratory virus-positive in all 560 cases of children patients with ALRTI, and the positive rate was 24.64%, of which the single virus detection rate was 23.21% and the mixed variety of virus detection rate was 1.43%. There were significant differences in the positive rate of respiratory viruses in different seasons, ages, diseases (χ2=43.76, 24.98, 97.60, P all <0.01) . In winter and spring seasons, children younger than one year old, and patients with bronchial asthma and bronchiolitis showed higher positive detection rate than others. The positive rate of respiratory virus of 56 cases decreased significantly after treatment. However, the respiratory virus could still be detected in 9 cases. Conclusions The positive rate of acute lower respiratory infections is comparatively low, which is mainly single infection of respiratory syncytial viruses. The positive rate is high in winter and spring, children younger than one year old, and patients with bronchial asthma and bronchiolitis. Some children have slower virus clearance after treatment. Key words: Respiratory tract infections; Virus; Children; Viral etiology