Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2008 Jul;42(3):268-72.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2008.03.012. Epub 2008 May 2.

Multiple simultaneous viral infections in infants with acute respiratory tract infections in Spain

Cristina Calvo  1 , Maria Luz García-García, Carolina Blanco, M Carmen Vázquez, M Elena Frías, Pilar Pérez-Breña, Inmaculada Casas
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Multiple simultaneous viral infections in infants with acute respiratory tract infections in Spain

Cristina Calvo et al. J Clin Virol. 2008 Jul.

Abstract

Background: The clinical significance of the presence of more than one type of virus in the respiratory specimens of children with respiratory infections is not clear.

Objectives: To describe the clinical characteristics of multiple viral infections versus single infection by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in hospitalized infants.

Study design: This is a prospective study conducted in all infants under 2 years of age admitted for acute respiratory infection (September 2000-June 2003) in a secondary teaching hospital. Virological diagnosis was made by two different multiplex reverse transcription-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays in nasopharyngeal aspirates. We describe the clinical characteristics of the patients with multiple viral infections and compare them to a group of 86 randomly selected patients infected only with RSV.

Results: 749 specimens taken were analyzed. Respiratory viruses were detected in 65.9% of the samples. 86 children had multiple viral infections (17.4% of all positive specimens). The most frequent clinical diagnosis in this group was recurrent wheezing in 44% and bronchiolitis in 52%. Fever was significantly more frequent (p<0.001), hospital stays were longer (p=0.05), and antibiotic treatment was used more (p=0.03) in infants with multiple viral infections than in the RSV-infected group.

Conclusions: Multiple viral infections are frequent in hospitalized children with respiratory tract disease (17.4%). Multiple viral infections are linked to higher fever, longer hospital stays and more frequent use of antibiotics than in the case of infants with single RSV infections.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Aberle J.H., Aberle S.W., Pracher E., Hutter H.P., Kundi M., Popow-Kraupp T. Single versus dual respiratory virus infections in hospitalized infants. Impact on clinical course of disease and interferon-gamma response. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2005;24:605–610. - PubMed
    1. Billaud G., Peny S., Legay V., Lina B., Valette M. Detection of rhinovirus and enterovirus in upper respiratory tract samples using a multiplex nested PCR. J Virol Methods. 2003;108:223–228. - PubMed
    1. Brandt C.D., Kim H.W., Rodriguez W.J., Arrobio J.O., Jeffries B.C., Parrott R.H. Simultaneous infections with different enteric and respiratory tract viruses. J Clin Microbiol. 1986;23:177–179. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brouard J., Freymuth F., Vabret A., Jokic M., Guillois B., Duhamel J.F. Co-infections virales lors des bronchiolites du nourrisson immunocompetent: etude prospective epidemiologique. Arch Pediatr. 2000;7(Suppl. 3):531–535. - PubMed
    1. Casas I., Powell L., Klapper P.E., Cleator G.M. New method for the extraction of viral RNA and DNA from cerebrospinal fluid for use in the polymerase chain reaction assay. J Virol Methods. 1995;53:25–36. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances