Laboratory epidemiology of respiratory viruses in a large children's hospital: A STROBE-compliant article

Ye, Sheng; Wang, Tianlin

A total of 34,961 samples were identified during the study period. A total of 3102 (8.9%) samples were positive for adenovirus, 2811 (8.0%) were positive for influenza A, 3460 (9.9%) were positive for influenza B, and 4527 (13.0%) were positive for respiratory syncytial virus. The positive rate of adenovirus was highest in April (50.8%), and lowest in November (3%). The number of sampling was increasing abruptly from November 2017, which was attributable to more outpatient visits for respiratory problem in Autumn and Winter periods (Fig. 1) . The absolute number of positive samples for adenovirus was highest in June (n = 587) and April (n = 544). The positive rate of influenza A was highest in December (18.5%), and lowest in July (0) and August (0.2%). The absolute number of positive samples for influenza A was highest in December (n = 1187) and lowest in August (n = 0, Fig. 2 ). The positive rate of influenza B was highest in April (23.9%), and lowest in December (0.4%) and November (0.6%). The absolute number of positive samples for influenza B was highest in March (n = 1548) and lowest in November (n = 22, Fig. 3 ). The positive rate of RSV was highest in December (28.5%), and lowest in June (2.9%) and July (4.3%). The Most of the samples were ordered during spring (44%) and winter (40%). In summer, the samples were more likely to be positive for adenovirus (0.4 vs 0.04; P < .001, Table 1 ). In winter, the samples were more likely to be positive for influenza A (0.72 vs 0.37; P < .001). Sputum samples were more likely to be positive for influenza A (0.82 vs 0.75; P < .001, Table 2 ). However, influenza B was more likely to be positive in Spring (0.89 vs 0.39; P < .001, Table 3 ). The samples positive for RSV were more likely to be obtained by throat swab (0.26 vs 0.24; P < .001). The positive rate for RSV was the highest in winter (0.72), followed by spring (0.21), autumn (0.05), and summer (0.02). There was no significant difference in the source of sample between groups of positive versus negative for RSV (Table 4 ).