[Respiratory syncytial virus infection in adult patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia].
OBJECTIVE
To determine the incidence and distribution of infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in hospitalized adults with community-acquired pneumonia.


METHODS
Patients were immunocompetent adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia, who were prospectively studied in our hospital. As a part of the diagnostic protocol, we performed RSV serology with paired acute and convalescent phase sera of patients admitted between February 1995 and May 1997. Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with and without acute infection were compared.


RESULTS
Paired RSV serology was performed in 250 patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia. 97% of them had presence of IgG antibodies but only 17 patients (6.8%) had serologic evidence of acute infection; of these, seroconversion was observed in eight and positive IgM in nine. Fourteen cases with acute infection (82%) occurred between November and May. Three patients had pneumococcal pneumonia, 2 Legionella pneumophila and 12 pneumonia of unknown etiology. There were no clinical differences between patients with and without RSV acute infection but those with acute infection had more frequently bilateral involvement in chest radiography and a greater proportion of pneumonias of unknown etiology.


CONCLUSIONS
RSV is a cause of acute infection among adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia, mainly between November and May. Further studies to assess the role of RSV as a causative agent of pneumonia in this population are needed.
Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital de Bellvitge, Universidad de Barcelona. 30191alu@comb.es
A
A
Lérida
A
A
Marrón
A
A
Casanova
B
B
Rosón
J
J
Carratalà
F
F
Gudiol
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011024:Pneumonia, Viral / Q000150:complications*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013030:Spain