title: Respiratory viruses in the pediatric intensive care unit: prevalence and clinical aspects.
abstract: A survey was conducted in two pediatric intensive care units in hospitals in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in order to monitor the main respiratory viruses present in bronchiolitis and/or pneumonia and their involvement in the severity of viral respiratory infections. Viral respiratory infection prevalence was 38.7%. In bronchiolitis, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was detected in 36% of the cases. In pneumonia, the prevalence rates were similar for adenovirus (10.3%) and RSV (7.7%). There was a difference among the viruses detected in terms of frequency of clinical findings indicating greater severity. Frequency of crackles in patients with RSV (47.3%) showed a borderline significance (p = 0.055, Fisher's exact test) as compared to those with adenovirus (87.5%). The overall case fatality rate in this study was 2.7%, and adenovirus showed a significantly higher case fatality rate (25%) than RSV (2.8%) (p = 0.005). Injected antibiotics were used in 49% of the children with RSV and 60% of those with adenovirus. Adenovirus was not detected in any of the 33 children submitted to oxygen therapy.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Central de Saúde Pública, Seção de Virologia, Fundação Estadual de Produção e Pesquisa em Saúde, Av. Ipiranga 5400, 90610-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. smstra@bol.com.br
authors.forename: Selir M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Straliotto
authors.forename: Marilda M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Siqueira
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: Tânia M R
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Maia
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000257:Adenoviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D001990:Bronchiolitis, Viral / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D010224:Parainfluenza Virus 3, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011024:Pneumonia, Viral / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015995:Prevalence; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D018113:Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010253:Respirovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index