Epidemiology of Acute Respiratory Infections in Children in Guangzhou: A Three-Year Study

Abstract

Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) are some of the most common human diseases worldwide. However, they have a complex and diverse etiology, and the characteristics of the pathogens involved in respiratory infections in developing countries are not well understood. In this work, we analyzed the characteristics of 17 common respiratory pathogens in children (≤14 years old) with ARI in Guangzhou, southern China over a 3-year period using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Pathogens were identified in 2361/4242 (55.7%) patients, and the positivity rate varied seasonally. Ten of the 17 pathogens investigated showed positivity rates of more than 5%. The most frequently detected pathogens were respiratory syncytial virus (768/2361, 32.5%), influenza A virus (428/2361, 18.1%), enterovirus (138/2361, 13.3%), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (267/2361, 11.3%) and adenovirus (213/2361, 9.0%). Co-pathogens were common and found in 503 of 2361 (21.3%) positive samples. When ranked according to frequency of occurrence, the pattern of co-pathogens was similar to that of the primary pathogens, with the exception of human bocavirus, human coronavirus and human metapneumovirus. Significant differences were found in age prevalence in 10 of the 17 pathogens (p≤0.009): four basic patterns were observed, A: detection rates increased with age, B: detection rates declined with age, C: the detection rate showed distinct peaks or D: numbers of patients were too low to detect a trend or showed no significant difference among age groups (p>0.05). These data will be useful for planning vaccine research and control strategies and for studies predicting pathogen prevalence.

Epidemiological characteristics and phylogenic analysis of human respiratory syncytial virus in patients with respiratory infections during 2011–2016 in southern China

“…Flu was the second most frequently detected respiratory virus (9.3%). The age characteristics and monthly distribution of RSV and the seven respiratory viruses in Guangzhou during 2011-2016 were consistent with those in previous reports (Liu et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 2014). A total of 1514 patients were RSV-positive, 91.7% of whom were inpatients, significantly higher than outpatients (p < 0.01).…”

Molecular detection of respiratory pathogens among children aged younger than 5 years hospitalized with febrile acute respiratory infections: A prospective hospital‐based observational study in Niamey, Niger

“…This proportion was similar to that reported in a previous study on the etiology of ARI in children aged younger than 5 years in Niger (78%), although on a limited number of samples . This finding was also consistent with those of other similar studies conducted in Africa (range 55%‐70%) and Asia (range 45%‐65%) …”

Viral etiology of acute respiratory infections among children under 5 years of age in Bulgaria, during the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons

“…In patients, diagnosed with ARI the most frequently detected virus was HRV -33 (16.75%) ( Table 3). (8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Coinfections in this study were identified in a relatively small percentage of cases (3.15%).…”