Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Children with Bronchiolitis
Abstract
Background: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the most
common organism causing bronchiolitis. Bronchiolitis is
almost always diagnosed clinically. As a result, the
availability of bedside sensitive rapid RSV antigen tests is
critical for timely RSV acute respiratory infection diagnosis.
Methods and materials: This study was conducted to detect
RSV antigen positivity and the sociodemographic profile of
children with RSV antigen positive bronchiolitis. From
October 2022 to March 2023, this observational study was
conducted in the pediatrics department of Chattogram
Medical College Hospital. Ninety-two nasopharyngeal swabs
from children younger than two years, were tested for RSV
antigen. The mean and standard deviation were used to express
the demographic data. Chi-square analysis was used to
examine differences in group proportions.
Results: RSV antigen positivity was detected in 45.7% of the
92 cases, with a mean age of 4.18±3.08 months. Severe
bronchiolitis cases were more common (22.8%) among
antigen positive cases and had the longest hospital stay.
During the months of November (42.4%) and December
(29.3%), RSV infection levels peaked. This study describes
that during the seasonal epidemics, RSV was the main
concern, as the number of positive cases decreased in the
months that followed. The signs and symptoms of RSV positive
and negative cases were not significantly different.
Conclusion: A simple, low-cost and bedside RSV test can be
considered as a valuable diagnostic tool in a low resource setting.