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HRV common cause of severe lower respiratory tract infections
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Human rhinovirus is known to cause most common colds, but new findings from Brazil indicate this virus also is responsible for severe lower respiratory tract infections in children, especially in the presence of other conditions.
Jonny Yokosawa, PhD, of the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia in Brazil, and colleagues examined nasopharyngeal aspirates from 434 children aged 0 to 5 years (median age, 7 months) who presented with acute respiratory infection (ARI) to determine factors involved in disease severity in human rhinovirus (HRV) infections in children.
At least one respiratory virus was detected in 88.2% of samples collected. HRV was detected in 41.7% of samples, followed by respiratory syncytial virus (35.9%). Of the samples positive for HRV, it was the only agent detected in 59.1%. Coinfection with another virus was detected in 40.9% of samples, with RSV being the most common, according to the findings published in Pediatrics.
Seventy-one percent of HRV single infection resulted in mild symptoms and 29% resulted in moderate to severe symptoms. More than half (51.4%) of patients with coinfection had moderate to severe symptoms. Symptoms of lower respiratory tract infections were present in more than one-third of the HRV single infections.
Disease severity also was associated with prematurity, cardiomyopathies and noninfectious respiratory diseases (P=.007).
“Our results showed a high incidence of HRV and RSV in ARIs in young children, and the majority of the HRV infections involved mild symptoms,” the researchers wrote. “However, we also found HRV in moderate to severe cases, and this study highlighted the importance of the association of this virus with coinfection with RSV, prematurity, congenital heart disease, or noninfectious respiratory disease in symptom severity. Also, early age as the only factor might not have played a role in more severe disease. These important findings may help children who are at higher risk of more severe respiratory disease.”
Disclosure: See study for a full list of researchers’ financial disclosures.
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