Podcast 877: Viral Respiratory Infections in Children

<p dir="ltr"><strong>Contributor: Jared Scott MD</strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Educational Pearls</strong></p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">A recently published study assessed the burden of respiratory viruses in a longitudinal cohort of children from 0 to 2 years of age</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">The children in the study received nasal swab PCR testing weekly to determine infectivity</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">They were also monitored for symptoms via weekly text surveys</p> </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">The study differentiated between infection and illness by defining an acute respiratory illness (ARI) as fever ≥38°C or cough. </p> </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">The median infectivity rate was 9.4 viral infections per child per year</p> </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">The median illness rate was 3.3 ARIs per child per year</p> </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">The most common etiological viruses isolated from the nasal samples were rhinovirus and enterovirus</p> </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Most infections were asymptomatic or mild</p> </li> </ul> </ul> <p dir="ltr">References</p> <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Teoh, Z., Conrey, S., McNeal, M., Burrell, A., Burke, R. M., Mattison, C., McMorrow, M., Payne, D. C., Morrow, A. L., & Staat, M. A. (2023). Burden of Respiratory Viruses in Children Less Than 2 Years Old in a Community-based Longitudinal US Birth Cohort. Clinical infectious diseases: an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 77(6), 901–909. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciad289</p> </li> </ol> <p dir="ltr"><em>Summarized by Jorge Chalit, OMSII | Edited by Meg Joyce & Jorge Chalit, OMSII</em></p