Etiology, seasonality, and clinical characteristics of respiratory viruses in children with respiratory tract infections in Eastern India (Bhubaneswar, Odisha).

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in young children in low and middle income countries. To analyse the overall burden of respiratory viruses responsible for ARTIs in paediatrics population in eastern India, this study was performed. Clinical information, demographic information and nasal/oral swabs were collected from 332 paediatric patients (aged from 1 month to 12 years old) with the symptoms of ARTI, enrolled from the outpatient department from Nov 2012 to Oct 2014. Multiplex PCR was performed to detect eight respiratory viral pathogens. Seasonal, as well as age-wise prevalence of respiratory viruses was analysed. Of these 332 cases, 32.53% (108/332) were positive for at least one pathogen. Human rhinovirus (HRV) was the most frequently detected pathogen (24.7%, 82/332) followed by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (4.22%, 14/332), PIV (2.11%, 7/332), and hMPV (2.11%, 7/332). Single infection was detected in 92.6% (100/108) of positive cases. Respiratory virus infections showed seasonal variation, with peaks during the rainy season followed by winter season, and were most common in patients under 1 year of age. Phylogenetic analysis of HMPV positive samples confirmed the circulation of A2 subgroup in the study area. The present study is first of its kind and adds to our knowledge of the epidemiological characteristics of these common respiratory viruses among patients with ARTIs in the study area. J. Med. Virol. 89:553-558, 2017.