Respiratory viruses detected in severe acute respiratory infections and deaths in South Africa: Pathogen or passenger?

Abstract

Background: Several viral pathogens are detected in patients with acute respiratory infections raising the question of their disease association especially in the presence of HIV. We investigated the prevalence of respiratory viruses for severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) to identify viruses in fatal disease compared to patients with influenza like illness (ILI) and healthy controls in South Africa.