Community study using a polymerase chain reaction panel to determine the prevalence of common respiratory viruses in asthmatic and nonasthmatic children.

We developed a sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panel, suitable for the detection of seven common respiratory viruses, to study the prevalence of viruses in nasal swabs obtained from clinically stable asthmatic children (n = 21), non-physician diagnosed asthmatic children with exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) (n = 16), and nonasthmatic, non-EIB controls (n = 33). The PCR panel detected viruses in 43/70 (61.4%) specimens but there were no significant differences in prevalence of these viruses between the three groups of children. These results indicate that clinically stable asthmatic and nonasthmatic children frequently harbor viruses in the upper respiratory tract.