The Effect of Respiratory Syncytial Virus on the Severity of Acute Bronchiolitis in Hospitalized Infants: A Prospective Study from Turkey

Objectives: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory infections in infants and children. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical significance of respiratory infections as single pathogen RSV, respiratory viruses with RSV and those with bronchiolitis caused by other respiratory viruses. Methods: A total of 316 throat swabs were collected from children diagnosed with acute bronchiolitis. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to identify the viruses in the samples. The subjects were divided into three groups: single pathogen RSV, agents with RSV and agents without RSV. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the corelation between single and multiple RSV infection group and infections without RSV group for parameters including age, wheezing, supplemental oxygen therapy. Results: The overall positivity for viruses in the study was found to be 75% with a co-infection rate of 34.2%. Compared to children with RSV alone, children with any other agents accompanying RSV, were not very likely to have fever, wheezing or supplemental oxygen therapy. Conclusions: The findings of our study suggest that RSV still represents a large burden of bronchiolitis since it is associated with the hospitalization of children, particularly those less than six months old. We can not foresee the clinical presentation of specific agent or agents in connection to being with or without RSV in infants with any level of bronchiolitis. The study agrees with the concept that co infections with or without RSV do not increase the severity of the disease.