Background: Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) is a common disease in developing countries. Morbidity and mortality of ARI are high, especially among children under 15 years old. Objectives: To describe socio-graphic factors, seasonal patterns, risky areas and determine the morbidity and mortality rates of acute respiratory infections in Thai Binh province. Subjects and method: This retrospective study reviewed the medical records of 4,585 hospital admitted patients who were diagnosed with ARI including upper and lower respiratory infections such as sore throat, pharyngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia and bronchitis-pneumonia at 8 district hospitals and 1 provincial hospital in Thai Binh province during 2002-2005. The selected medical records were based on the available check list and two standard screening tests. Results:Morbidity and mortality of ARI in Thai Binh province were 61.6 and 0.52, respectively. ARI mainly occurred among children under 5 years old, of which the highest mortality was among those under 12 months of age. Male children were at higher risk of acquiring ARI, but less prone to death than female. Occupation did not significantly associate with the risk of ARI. The morbidity increased sharply during inter-season, e.g. March and October. Thai Binh city, Kien Xuong and Tien Hai district were reported with the highest morbidity in accompany of the high mortality as consequences. Conclusion: The prevention and control methods were recommended to annually focus on the male children aged less than 5 years old during March and October in Thai Binh city, Kien Xuong and Tien Hai district.
morbidity ; mortality ; acute respiratory infections

Acute Disease ; Child ; Humans ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; virology

Acute Disease ; Humans ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; diagnosis ; etiology ; microbiology ; virology

Acute Disease ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Respiratory Tract Infections

Acute Disease ; Adenovirus Infections, Human ; Child ; Humans ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Molecular Typing ; Respiratory Tract Infections

OBJECTIVETo investigate human coronaviruses (HCoVs) infection in children with acute lower respiratory tract infection(ALRTI)and to explore the clinical features of ALRTI caused by HCoVs in children.

METHODTotally 4 371 children with clinical diagnosis of ALRTI during the period from March 2007 to February 2015 seen in Beijing Children's Hospital were recruited into this study. Patients were divided into 4 groups by age, including 1 890 cases in < 1 year group, 788 cases in 1-3 years group, 553 cases in 3-6 years group, 1140 cases in ≥6 years group. One nasopharyngeal aspirate specimen was collected from each patient. RT-PCR methods were applied to detect 9 common respiratory viruses including HCoVs (including HCoV-OC43, HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and so on. Clinical features of ALRTI with single HCoVs infection were analyzed and compared with hospitalized ALRTI cases with single RSV infection in the same period.

RESULT(1) Totally 2 895 cases were positive for at least one virus in this study in 4 371 ALRTI patients (positive rate 66.23%), in which 147 cases were positive for HCoVs infection (positive rate 3.36%). (2) Positive rates of HCoVs in each year from 2007 to 2014 were 6.11%, 3.79%, 4.69%, 4.31%, 2.38% 2.10%, 0.77% and 2.65%, respectively. The mean positive rates of HCoVs for each month from January to December were 2.53%, 2.12%, 3.63%, 6.68%, 1.53%, 3.77%, 3.92%, 3.00%, 2.15%, 5.26%, 3.01% and 2.80%. (3) Detection results of each subtypes of HCoVs in total 4 371 pediatric ALRTI patients were: 48 cases positive for HCoV-OC43(1.10%), 32 cases positive for HCoV-229E(0.73%), 25 cases positive for HCoV-NL63 (0.57%), 27 cases positive for HCoV-HKU1 (0.62%). (4) Positive rates of HCoVs infection in <1 year group, 1-3 years group, 3-6 years group and ≥ 6 years group were 4.13%, 5.08%, 2.71% and 1.23%, respectively. There were significant differences in positive rates of HCoV among groups (χ² = 27.218, P<0.01). (5) There were 16 hospitalized cases with single infection of HCoVs in this study, of which 12 cases were diagnosed as bronchopneumonia, 3 cases developed acute laryngeal obstruction, 2 cases had acute bronchial asthma attack. Common clinical manifestations included cough (14 cases), gasping (13 cases), dyspnea (9 cases), fever (6 cases), hoarseness (4 cases), laryngeal stridor (4 cases) and abnormality on chest X-ray (including fuzzy lung texture, patchy shadow and consolidation) (12 cases). (6) There were no significant differences in the incidence of clinical manifestations (including cough, gasping, dyspnea, fever and abnormality on chest X-ray), complications (including respiratory failure, myocardial damage, and acute bronchial asthma attack) and mechanical ventilation between hospitalized ALRTI patients with single HCoV infection and 193 patients with single RSV infection in the same period.

CONCLUSIONHCoVs are pathogens of ALRTI in children, The overall positive rate of HCoVs was 3.36% in this study. The clinical manifestations and severity of ALRTI caused by single HCoVs was comparable to that of ALRTI with single RSV infection in children.

Acute Disease ; Beijing ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Coronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections ; epidemiology ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; epidemiology ; virology

OBJECTIVES: To identify the relationship between the use of medical services by workers with three types of respiratory diseases (total respiratory diseases, acute upper respiratory infections and chronic lower respiratory diseases) and exposure to hazardous agents after controlling for other factors affecting medical services use, such as characteristics of the enterprises (scale, industry type) and employee demographics (sex, age). METHODS: The study population comprised 28,882 workers who had undergone general or special medical examinations at the industrial health center at least once between Jan 1995 and Dec 1997 and had possessed medical insurance during the period. We combined medical examination data with medical insurance data in order to analyze the relationship between exposure to hazardous agents and respiratory diseases. RESULTS: Among the 28,882 study subjects, 17,454 employees (60.4%) used medical services more than once during 3-year study period, owing to more than one kind of respiratory diseases. In logistic regression analysis, sex, age and the size of the enterprises proved to be significant variables on the use of medical services for all three types of respiratory disease: The use of medical services increased with employee age. Women used more medical services than men and the employees in the large-scale enterprises used more services than employees in small-scale enterprises. However, exposure to dust or organic solvents did not affect medical service use due to total respiratory diseases or acute upper respiratory infections. Only in the case of chronic lower respiratory diseases did workers exposed to dusts (OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.01 -1.24) or organic solvents (OR=1.19, 95% CI=1.05-1.35) use more medical services than those not exposed. CONCLUSIONS: Workers exposed to dusts or organic solvents are particularly apt to suffer from chronic lower respiratory diseases and use medical services more often than those not exposed. That is, chronic exposure to hazardous agents such as dusts and organic solvents is believed to be harmful and to cause respiratory symptoms and diseases.
Acute Disease ; Demography ; Dust ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Occupational Health ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Solvents

As of February 2020, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak started in China in December 2019 has been spreading in many countries in the world. With the numbers of confirmed cases are increasing, information on the epidemiologic investigation and clinical manifestation have been accumulated. However, data on viral load kinetics in confirmed cases are lacking. Here, we present the viral load kinetics of the first two confirmed patients with mild to moderate illnesses in Korea in whom distinct viral load kinetics are shown. This report suggests that viral load kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 may be different from that of previously reported other coronavirus infections such as SARS-CoV.
China ; Coronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; Humans ; Kinetics ; Korea ; SARS Virus ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; Viral Load

Acute Disease ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; epidemiology ; virology ; Phylogeny ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; epidemiology ; virology ; Respirovirus ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the status of enterovirus (EV) infection in children with acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI).

METHODSA total of 404 samples (with odd numbers) of nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from the children who were hospitalized in the Children's Medical Center, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital due to ALRTI between September 2007 and April 2008. The conserved sequence in the 5'-noncoding region of EV was used to design the primer, and nested RT-PCR was performed to detect EV in the samples.

RESULTSOf the 404 samples, 19 (4.7%) were EV-positive, and mostly taken from children under 3 years of age (95%); there was no significant difference in the detection rate between male and female children. Of the EV-positive children, 13 (68%) were clinically diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia, and 6 (32%) with bronchiolitis; 90% of them showed symptoms of fever, 84% had a cough, 63% had asthma, and 63% had complications mainly including diarrhea (6 cases), granulocytopenia (4 cases), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (2 cases). In addition, 26% of the EV-positive children had leukocyte disorder, more than half had liver dysfunction, and a few had myocardial involvement.

CONCLUSIONSEV is a pathogen that should not be neglected in children with ALRTI. For these children, close attention should be paid to the epidemiological status and clinical features of EV infection, and blood routine examination, liver function test and myocardial enzyme assay should be carried out periodically to improve prognosis.

Acute Disease ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Enterovirus Infections ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Nasopharynx ; virology ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; virology