STUDY OF MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS GENOTYPES IN CHILDREN WITH ACUTE RESPIRATORY ILLNESS

Abstract

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION A cute respiratory infections (ARIs) are considered the leading cause of acute illnesses worldwide and remain the most important cause of infant and young children mortality, accounting for about two million deaths (20% of all child deaths) each year. Globally, RSV is responsible for as many as 34 million episodes of acute lower respiratory tract infections, 3.4 million hospitalizations, and up to 199,000 deaths per year in children younger than 5 years of age. Influenza spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics resulting in the deaths of 250,000 to 500,000 people every year. This study was a cross sectional, randomized study that was designed to evaluate the genetic frequency of each Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus strains isolated in a single community which is Paediatric outpatient’s clinic Children’s hospital, Ain Shams university hospitals, Cairo, Egypt during winter months (January, February and March 2012) using RT-PCR technique. In the present study, 21% of children with acute respiratory infection were RSV positive. Among RSV negative cases 79%; 6 cases were swine flu positive. RSV infection was more common in ≤5 years of age with male predominance. Cough, fever and respiratory distress were the most frequent symptoms observed in RSV and Swine flu positive cases. 23.81% of RSV cases were on mechanical ventilation. WBC, CRP and ESR were found to be high among all studied groups. Radiological findings of RSV and Swine flu positive cases showed hyperinflation, increased bronchovascular marking and heterogonous opacifications in both lung fields. Genotype A was more predominant 80.9% of all RSV cases; A2 resembled 61.9% and A5 resembled 19.05% while genotype B was 19.05%. IN CONCLUSION, RSV represented almost 20% of children with acute respiratory infection; genotype A2 was the most predominant type which was more common among males with low social class who came from crowded areas of urban inhabitants with positive passive smoking. No statistical significant difference between RSV genotypes (A2, A5 and B1) as regard demographic, clinical, and radiological findings.