Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of human parainfluenza viruses in hospitalized children with acute lower respiratory tract infections

Abstract

Objective To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of human parainfluenza virus (HPIV) types 1 to 4 (HPIV1 to 4) infections among hospitalized children with acute lower respiratory tract infections, so as to evaluate the effects of HPIV4 on lower respiratory tract infections in children. Methods From January, 2015 to December, 2017, a total of 5 030 nasopharynal aspirate samples were collected from hospitalized children aged 0-14 years old with acute lower respiratory tract infections in Children's Hospital of Shanghai. Reverse transcript fluroscent PCR was used to detect HPIV1-4 and five other common respiratory viruses. The differences of epidemiological and clinical characteristics of HPIV1 to 4 were analyzed by chi-square test. Results From 5 030 child patients, 138 were positive of HPIV1 (2.74%), 31 were positive of HPIV2 (0.62%), 432 were positive of HPIV3 (8.59%) and 171 were positive of HPIV4 (3.40%). Co-infection rate of HPIV with 5 other common respiratory viruses were 10.23% (79/772). The differences of the positive rates of HPV1 to 4 among children of different ages and among different seasons were statistically significant. Comparing to HPIV3, children with HPIV4 infections showed statistically significant differences in clinical features, including cough, fever and diarrhea. Conclusions The positive rate of HPIV4 in child patients of acute lower respiratory tract infections was only lower than that of HPIV3. This should be concerned in clinical practice. Key words: Human parainfluenza virus; Acute lower respiratory tract infection; Epidemiological characteristics; Clinical features