Clinical and laboratory profiles of hospitalized children with acute respiratory virus infection

Choi, Eunjin; Ha, Kee-Soo; Song, Dae Jin; Lee, Jung Hwa; Lee, Kwang Chul

The decision to use antibiotics is determined by clinical and laboratory evaluation. In this study, antibiotics are used more often in cases of hMPV and AdV, and they are also used more when infection in young infants who are potentially immune-incompetent, manifests as a lower ARI. Concerns of bacterial superinfection often cause us to continue the use of antibiotics, even after identification of a viral pathogen. Application of a clinical rule without consideration of virus-specific clinical and laboratory characteristics may lead us to make a wrong decision. 25) This study has some limitations. Not all patients were examined for a bacterial etiology at presentation, and the use of antibiotics might affect bacterial detection. Thus, it is possible that this study overestimates the number of viral ARIs. Also, the RT-PCR assay used in this study did not quantify the viral load. It is still possible that even the single virus detected in a patient with a symptomatic ARI might not be the causative pathogen.