engleski

Eleven consecutive years of respiratory syncytial virus outbreaks in Croatia

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of severe lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in infants. The aim of the study was to analyze the epidemiologic characteristics of RSV outbreaks in Croatian children. Over a period of 11 consecutive years (1994-2005), 3, 435 inpatients with acute respiratory infections (ARI) who were newborn to 10 years of age and were residing in Zagreb County were tested for infection with RSV and other respiratory viruses at the Virology Department, Croatian National Institute of Public Health. RSV was identified in nasopharyngeal secretions of these patients by isolation in cell culture and/or detection with monoclonal antibodies using a direct fluorescence assay. RSV was the most common causative agent of ARI (42.2% ; 658/1, 559) for the infants 0-6 months of age. It was also the etiologic agent of LRTI in 49% (495/1, 010) of infants of similar age. RSV was demonstrated in 56.5% (382/676) of infants with bronchiolitis, and in 36.5% (49/134) of those with pneumonia in this age group. Our data demonstrate that the overall prevalence of RSV infection in Croatian children with acute respiratory illness, and its occurrence in various age groups, remained stable over the past decade. RSV was found to be the most common cause of bronchiolitis occurring throughout childhood (52.7% ; 482/913).

acute respiratory infections; bronchiolitis; pneumonia; respiratory syncytial virus

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