Etiological and clinical characteristics of hospitalized children with acute respiratory infection in Guangzhou between 2013 and 2014

Abstract

Objective To investigate the status of common pathogens infection in patients with acute respiratory infection (ARI) in Guangzhou. Methods Throat swabs were collected from 5 053 children with ARI, who were hospitalized in the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center between 2013 and 2014. The swabs were determined for nine respiratory pathogens by fluorescence PCR. Results Among the 5 053 samples, 1 602 cases (31.7%) were positive for at least one virus. The top three pathogens were respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) , adenovirus (ADV) and rhinovirus (RHV) , with the infection rates being 9.46%, 7.05% and 4.87%, respectively. Human bocavirus (HBOV) , influenza A virus (IVA) , parainfluenza virus (PIV) , enterovirus (EV) , human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and influenza B virus (IVB) were the next common viruses, with the infection rates being 4.20%, 3.70%, 1.72%, 1.44%, 1.29% and 1.07%, respectively. The male to female ratio was 1.16∶1. The median age was 1 year and 5 months. There were differences in the infections between sex and age groups. The single infection, double infection and triple infection rates were 90.70%, 8.86% and 0.44%, respectively. Syncytial virus was most prone to mixed infection, and the most common mixed infection was RSV+ADV. The infection rates were different in different seasons. The highest infection rate occurred in spring (39.21%) and the lowest in autumn (25.75%) . Fever, sore throat, cough, dyspnea and abnormal pulmonary auscultation occurred in 90.14%, 41.20%, 71.16%, 29.46%, 48.25% and 42.45% respectively of the children. Conclusion The virus infection in children with ARI is common, and the first three pathogens are RSV, ADV and HBOV. Sufficient attention should be drawn to clinical prevention and treatment. Mixed infection is a common mode of infection, however, does not differ from a single infection in disease progression. Key words: Virus; Acute respiratory infection; Children