This paper reports the results of our factfinding survey of annual epidemics of respiratory syncytial virus infection, an important cause of inflammation of the lower respiratory tract in infants and young children, in Honjo City and the neighboring district of Yuri. Diagnosis of RS virus infection was performed with the RSV test pack.
Over the period of three years from January 1993 to December 1995, the number of patients with RS virus infection totaled 127 of whom 107 were hospitalized and 20 were treated as outpatients. The male-female ratio was 69: 58, 60: 47 and 9: 11, respectively. The total number of patients included 9 neonates, 15 one-month-old infants and 17 young children of one year or above.
The infectious disease rages from December through January every year. Of the total 127 people, 64 were infected with RS virus during the winter months.
The pediatric department of our hospital is visited by nearly 20, 000 outpatients annually each from Honjo City and the Yuri district. A check of the number of the outpatients diagnosed with RS virus infection showed that 70 people are from Honjo and 57 from Yuri. During the survey period, 4 boys and 2 girls required endotracheal intubation because of respiratory dysfunction. They consisted of 3 newborn infants and 3 1-month-olds. The occurrence of this infectious disease in the very early period of infancy and signs of pneumonia are considered to be risk factors for respiratory failure.