Clinical epidemiological characteristics of respiratory syncytial virus infection in children in single center in Tianjin / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in children in Tianjin, and provide reference for the prevention and treatment of RSV infection in children.Methods:Clinical data of 2 743 children with acute respiratory infections treated at the Tianjin Fifth Central Hospital from January 2022 to January 2024 were collected. Multiplex fluorescent PCR was used to detect the nucleic acid fragments of six respiratory pathogens including Mycoplasma pneumoniae, human rhinovirus, adenovirus, influenza A virus, influenza B virus and RSV in the throat swabs of the patients. A retrospective analysis was performed on the epidemiological and clinical data of RSV-RNA positive cases. Results:The positive rate of RSV-RNA in the 2 743 children was 15.09% (414/2 743). The positive rate of RSV-RNA was 9.29% (73/786) in 2022 and 16.53% (302/1 827) in 2023, with a statistically significant difference between the two years (χ 2=23.45, P<0.05). The incidence of RSV infection in winter and spring was significantly different from that in summer and autumn (χ 2=19.46, P<0.05). The highest and the lowest infection rates of RSV were found in winter (19.32%, 193/999) and autumn (9.43%, 45/477), respectively. There was a significant difference in RSV infection rate among different age groups (χ 2=71.38, P<0.05), with the highest infection rate in the age group of 0-2 years (21.18%, 230/1 086), and the lowest infection rate in the age group of 6-8 years (6.29%, 27/429). Among the 414 children with RSV infection, 359 cases (84.97%) were infected with RSV alone, while the other 55 cases (13.29%) were infected with mixed pathogens. Fifty-two cases had co-infection of RSV and one other pathogen. The most common pathogens in co-infection cases were human rhinovirus (4.83%, 20/414) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (6.04%, 25/414). Conclusions:The RSV infection rate among children with acute respiratory tract infection in Tianjin from 2022 to 2024 was 15.09%, with the highest infection rate in spring and the lowest infection rate in autumn. RSV infection can occur in children of all ages, with the highest infection rate in children aged 0-2 years and the lowest infection rate in children aged 6-8 years. RSV infection is often complicated by other respiratory pathogens, and the most common pathogens are human rhinovirus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae.