Detection and clinical characteristics analysis of respiratory viruses in hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infections by a GeXP-based multiplex-PCR assay

Huang, Huanhuan; Chen, Suqing; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Hong, Linliang; Zeng, Yongbin; Wu, Bin

Presently, several diagnostic methods for the detection of respiratory virus, including virus culture, viral-antigen detection, and viral-antibody detection have been described. 4, 5 Virus culture is a gold standard method; however, this method is labor-intensive and time-consuming, making it impractical to be used in the clinical laboratory. 5 Antigen and antibody detection methods are easy-to-perform; however, they exhibit poor sensitivity and may have a false negative or positive reaction. 6 In contrast, molecular techniques, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time fluorescent PCR assays, are sensitive and specific for virus detection 7 ; however, only one virus can be detected by conventional PCR at a time. It should be noted that multiplex-PCR technology can simultaneously detect multiple pathogens at the same time, which is also easy-to-operate and need less workforce. 7 It is well known that ARTI prevalence in children may vary in different geographic regions and different seasons. 4, 8 However, information regarding viral ARTI in pediatric hospitalized children in Fuzhou city (central Fujian) is still limited. Thus, to better understand the information about the epidemiology of the pathogens in pediatric hospitalized patients with ARTI and provide effective prevention strategies, we aimed in this study to investigate the epidemiology of respiratory viruses via a GeXP-based multiplex-PCR assay in children under 15 years of age in pediatrics.