Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Hospitalized Children With Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infections, Using Real-time PCR in Ahvaz, Iran

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) play a major role in hospitalizations of children, and Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is well recognized as the most important pathogen causing ARTI. This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical patterns of RSV infection in children hospitalized for lower ARTI in Ahvaz, Iran.Patient and Respiratory specimens collected from 100 children with lower ARTI from October 2008 until the end of April 2009, were screened for RSV using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). During the study period, 9 children had a positive result for RSV infection. The median age of these patients was 10 months. Bronchiolitis was the clinical diagnosis of patients with RSV infections. All of these patients were less than 24 months. Cough (77.7%) and chest wall retraction (100%) were the leading symptoms and signs respectively. This study indicates that RSV is a substantial cause of respiratory tract infection in infants less than 2 years old. RT-PCR offers a rapid method for detection of RSV in hospitalized children with LRTI..