title: Can we identify acute severe viral lower respiratory tract infection clinically?
abstract: Two hundred children below five years of age hospitalized with a clinical diagnosis of acute severe lower respiratory tract infection were enrolled in the study. Nasopharyngeal (NP) aspirate was collected for viral isolation by centrifugation enhanced culture technique. Viruses were isolated from 89 NP aspirates. Clinical features of these 89 children were compared with 111 children whose NP aspirates were negative for viruses. There was significantly higher incidence of breathlessness and rhonchi in children whose nasopharyngeal aspirates yielded virus. Sensitivity,specificity, positive and negative predictive values of breathlessness for severe viral ALRTI were 98%, 10.8%, 46.8% and 85%, respectively. The values for rhonchi were 60%, 56.8%, 58.2%, and 74.1%, respectively. It is concluded that clinical features do not have desirable sensitivity and specificity for identification of ALRTI due to viral etiology.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110 029, India. skkabra@hotmail.com
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kabra
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Broor
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lodha
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Maitreyi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghosh
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002498:Centrifugation; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000821:virology*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology*; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification