title: Frequent respiratory pathogens of respiratory tract infections  in children attending daycare centers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify and characterize respiratory viruses that infect children from daycare centers with symptoms of respiratory infection and to evaluate the association of clinical and epidemiological disease data with the identified virus.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a study between 2003 and 2005 in 176 children with respiratory infection symptoms attending a municipal daycare center. Samples from nasopharyngeal secretion were tested by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and positive samples for picornavirus were sequenced.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 782 collected samples were analyzed and 31.8% were positive for at least one of the studied respiratory viruses. Respiratory infections were characterized by the presence of mild symptoms of the upper respiratory tract, the most common of which were runny nose and cough. In the 2 years of study, most cases of infection occurred in autumn and winter, but respiratory viruses were detected throughout all the study period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Respiratory viruses and respiratory infections caused by them are part of the daily life of children attending daycare centers. Our results show the great impact that respiratory infections have on these children and suggest that more attention must be paid to viral pathogens.
authors: Universidade Estadual Paulista, São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors: Caroline M
authors: CM
authors: Bonfim
authors: Maurício L
authors: ML
authors: Nogueira
authors: Paulo Vítor M
authors: PV
authors: Simas
authors: Luis Gustavo A
authors: LG
authors: Gardinassi
authors: Edison L
authors: EL
authors: Durigon
authors: Paula
authors: P
authors: Rahal
authors: Fátima Pereira
authors: FP
authors: Souza
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D001483:Base Sequence; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D012229:Rhinovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012621:Seasons; D017678:Sex Distribution