No human respiratory syncytial virus but SARS-CoV-2 found in children under 5 years old referred to Children Medical Center in 2021, Tehran, Iran.

Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are one of the leading causes of illness and death among community members worldwide. Viral infections are the most common agents estimated to be involved in these patients. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) among children with ARIs. This study evaluated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and hRSV in 168 throat and nasopharyngeal swab samples using real-time RT-PCR. All samples were collected from children under 5 years old with ARIs who attended Children's Medical Center, Tehran, Iran, and sent to the Iranian National Influenza Center with appropriate conditions in 2021. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used for comparison of the data of the prevalence of hRSV and SARS-CoV-2 infections among children. Of 168 patients examined, 95 (57%) were male and 73 (43%) female. Out of them, 47 (28%) cases were younger than 1 year old and 121 cases (72%) were 1-5 years old. The most common clinical manifestations of patients were cough (78%), nausea (31%), diarrhea (27%), and fever (18%). Among 168 patients, no hRSV was detected, while the SARS-CoV-2 genome was identified in 16 (9.5%) patients. Among 16 positive cases of SARS-CoV-2, 8 (50%) were under 1 year old and 8 positive cases were 1-5 years old. This study was performed at cold months of the year but due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and adherence to health protocols, school closures, and virtual classes, no cases of hRSV infections were identified.

Survey of WU and KI polyomaviruses, coronaviruses, respiratory syncytial virus and parechovirus in children under 5 years of age in Tehran, Iran.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) remain an important cause for childhood morbidity worldwide. We designed a research with the objective of finding the frequency of respiratory viruses, particularly WU and KI polyomaviruses (WUPyV & KIPyV), human coronaviruses (HCoVs), human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) and human parechovirus (HPeV) in hospitalized children who were influenza negative. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Throat swabs were collected from children younger than 5 years who have been hospitalized for SARI and screened for WUPyV, KIPyV, HCoVs, HRSV and HPeV using Real time PCR. RESULTS: A viral pathogen was identified in 23 (11.16%) of 206 hospitalized children with SARI. The rate of virus detection was considerably greater in infants <12 months (78.2%) than in older children (21.8%). The most frequently detected viruses were HCoVs with 7.76% of positive cases followed by KIPyV (2%) and WUPyV (1.5%). No HPeV and HRSV were detected in this study. CONCLUSION: This research shown respiratory viruses as causes of childhood acute respiratory infections, while as most of mentioned viruses usually causes mild respiratory diseases, their frequency might be higher in outpatient children. Meanwhile as HRSV is really sensitive to inactivation due to environmental situations and its genome maybe degraded, then for future studies, we need to use fresh samples for HRSV detection. These findings addressed a need for more studies on viral respiratory tract infections to help public health.