title: Surveillance of eight respiratory viruses in clinical samples of pediatric patients in southeast Brazil.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Detection of the eight most common respiratory viruses: human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV), influenza virus A and B (IA and IB), parainfluenza viruses 1, 2 and 3 (HPIV1, 2 and 3), adenovirus (Ad) and human metapneumovirus (HMPV), in order to establish the etiology of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and the epidemiology of these viruses in young children seen at Hospital Universitário, Universidade de São Paulo, in São Paulo, Brazil, during 2003.
  
  
  METHODS
  The epidemiological surveillance was conducted in all children younger than 5 years hospitalized at the Hospital for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) from January 1, 2003 to December 30, 2003. Nasal and throat samples were scanned for respiratory viruses by polymerase chain reaction and detected by the GeneScan assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 336 samples collected from 336 patients, 187 (55.6%) were positive for at least one of the respiratory viruses studied. Of all the children, HRSV was identified in 24.1%, HMPV in 17.8%, HPIV3 in 8.3%, Ad in 6.8%, IA in 5%, HPIV1 in 0.6%, but no virus could be detected in 44.1%. Dual virus infections were detected in 7.1% of all samples (12.8% of positive samples). HPIV2 and IB were not detected in the present study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms that children younger than 5 years and particularly younger than 1 year have a high hospitalization rate due to HRSV, HMPV, HPIV, influenza and adenovirus. We were able to determine the etiology and epidemiology of most ARIs and trace the seasonal profile of the commonest respiratory viruses among young children.
authors.affiliation: Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. lucmt@usp.br
authors.forename: Luciano M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Thomazelli
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.forename: Thereza S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.forename: Daniele B L
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Golono
authors.forename: Alfredo E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Gillio
authors.forename: Klaus E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Stwien
authors.forename: Dean D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Erdman
authors.forename: Edison L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Durigon
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral