Bull Natl Res Cent . Prevalence of viral pathogens in a sample of hospitalized Egyptian children with acute lower respiratory tract infections: a two-year prospective study

[tetano]

Bull Natl Res Cent


. 2022;46(1):103.
doi: 10.1186/s42269-022-00790-4. Epub 2022 Apr 13.
Prevalence of viral pathogens in a sample of hospitalized Egyptian children with acute lower respiratory tract infections: a two-year prospective study


Amira S El Refay ¹ , Manal A Shehata ¹ , Lobna S Sherif ¹ , Hala G El Nady ¹ , Naglaa Kholoussi ² , Shams Kholoussi ² , Nevine R El Baroudy ³ , Mokhtar R Gomma ⁴ , Sara H Mahmoud ⁴ , Noura M Abo Shama ⁴ , Ola Bagato ⁴ , Ahmed El Taweel ⁴ , Ahmed Kandeil ⁴ , Mohamed A Ali ⁴



Affiliations

• PMID: 35431533
• PMCID: PMC9006499
• DOI: 10.1186/s42269-022-00790-4

Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Viral pneumonias are a major cause of childhood mortality. Proper management needs early and accurate diagnosis. This study objective is to investigate the viral etiologies of pneumonia in children.
Results: This prospective study enrolled 158 and 101 patients in the first and second year, respectively, and their mean age was 4.72 ± 2.89. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected and subjected to virus diagnosis by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Viral etiologies of pneumonia were evidenced in 59.5% of the samples in the first year, all of them were affirmative for influenza A, 2 samples were affirmative for Human coronavirus NL63, and one for Human coronavirus HKU1. In the second year, 87% of patients had a viral illness. The most prevalent agents are human metapneumovirus which was detected in 44 patients (43.6%) followed by human rhinovirus in 35 patients (34.7%) and then parainfluenza-3 viruses in 33 patients (32.7%), while 14 patients had a confirmed diagnosis for both Pan coronavirus and Flu-B virus.
Conclusions: Viral infection is prevalent in the childhood period; however, the real magnitude of viral pneumonia in children is underestimated. The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction has to be a vital tool for epidemiological research and is able to clear the gaps in-between clinical pictures and final diagnoses.

Keywords: Egyptian children; Human coronavirus; Influenza; Lower respiratory tract infection; Viral pneumonia.