In the Cordillera Administrative Region, pneumonia has been the second most common cause of morbidity. In Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) pneumonia has been the number one cause of morbidity and one of the top three causes of mortality among pediatric patients since 2002; these were all treated as bacterial pneumonia. However, the epidemiology of viral pneumonia has not yet been studied. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of viral pneumonia among pediatric patients admitted from May 2009 to April 2010. METHODS: A chart review was performed to provide data on (1) all patients' ages 0 to 18 years old admitted in the institution for pneumonia; (2) those enrolled in the SARI epidemiological surveillance from May 2009 to April 2010; (3) only patients admitted on Sundays or Wednesdays; and (4) those swabbed within 24 hours of admission (This is the schedule agreed upon by the involved groups on the oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabbing at the institution for the SARI surveillance which is done during Mondays and Thursdays); (5) those who recently have not taken any antiviral medications; and (6) those who were not subjected to oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swabs prior to admission. the prevalence of viral pneumonia among pediatric patients admitted from May 2009 to April 2010 (indicate aseline characteristics such as age, sex, clinical symptoms, and co-morbid diseases, course and length of hospital stay; and outcome data was gathered. RESULTS: A total of 982 pediatric patients were admitted for pneumonia. Of the three-hundred-seventy-seven patients tested for viral isolates, 28.1% were positive and most of the cases with viral isolates were in October. In all ages, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) was the most prevalent (87.74%). Subjects who were less than one year old showed a higher detection rate of virus. There were more patients from the viral isolate negative group who presented with signs of respiratory distress. Most of the patients of both groups were discharged after one-to-three hospital days. CONCLUSION: RSV was the most common virus isolated. Children less than one year old had the highest detection rate of a virus.
Human ; Male ; Female ; Adolescent ; Child ; Child Preschool ; Infant ; Infant Newborn ; PNEUMONIA, VIRAL ; RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS ; PREVALENCE