Virologic study of acute lower respiratory tract infections in children admitted to the paediatric department of Blida University Hospital, Algeria

Derrar, F.; Izri, K.; Kaddache, C.; Boukari, R.; Hannoun, D.

Very young infants are more vulnerable to RSV infection; the fragility of their respiratory systems, combined with lower defenses at this age, lead to more severe bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization [1, 21] . The majority of positive RSV cases are concentrated in the period from late January to late March, which corresponds to the coldest months in our region. Thanks to improved molecular biology techniques, the detection of HRV infection has increased considerably, making it possible to link many ALRTI, including bronchiolitis, pneumonia, influenza syndromes and asthma exacerbations, to this virus. HRV (of the Picornaviridae family, like enteroviruses) was detected here only by multiplex PCR in 23.1% of cases, which is within the range found in several studies. The detection rate of HRV ranges from 24% to 48%, and it is generally associated with mild to moderate acute respiratory tract infections [24] [25] [26] . Therefore, it is a widespread viral infection and a frequent cause of care seeking. Miller et al. [27] showed that HRV is detected in nearly 26% of children younger than 5 years hospitalized for respiratory symptoms and fever. Its involvement in severe ALRTI in young children is also important [28] .