Viral respiratory infection in Curitiba, Southern Brazil.
OBJECTIVE
Viral infection is the major cause of respiratory tract pathology affecting individuals of all ages, especially children and immunocompromised patients. There is a paucity of data on etiological and epidemiological infection caused by virus, in Southern Brazil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the seasonality, and the incidence of the viruses involved in respiratory infections in Curitiba, South Brazil.


METHODS
Two hundred seventy-three nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) from primary care health units and 1348 NPA or bronchoalveolar lavages from a tertiary-care teaching hospital were studied. Viruses were identified by indirect immunofluorescence and cellular culture.


RESULTS
Thirty percent of tested samples scored positive for the presence of virions. The percentages of infection for each virus from outpatients and hospitalized, respectively, were 3.3, 19.3 for respiratory syncytial virus; 13.9, 3.5 for influenza A, 3.0, 1.7 for influenza B; 3.3, 5.6 for parainfluenza virus and 2.2, 0.8 for adenovirus. A higher incidence of positive results was found during the winter season, thus showing a pattern of seasonality.


CONCLUSIONS
Viral agents are one of the main etiologies of respiratory tract pathology in the population studied.
Tsuchiya
Luine R R V
LR
Laboratory of Virology, Hospital de Clínicas da Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil. virologiahc@ufpr.br
Costa
Libera M D
LM
Raboni
Sonia M
SM
Nogueira
Meri B
MB
Pereira
Luciane A
LA
Rotta
Indianara
I
Takahashi
Gislene R A
GR
Coelho
Micheli
M
Siqueira
Marilda M
MM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D017817:Nasal Lavage Fluid; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D012621:Seasons; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*