The Role of Viral and Bacterial Agents in the Incidence of Respiratory Diseases among Military Personnel

Abstract

Introduction: The incidence of respiratory diseases continues to increase annually, causing significant harm to health of the population. Respiratory diseases are induced by a variety of viral and bacterial pathogens and are one of the most common disease categories observed in humans. Objective: To assess respiratory disease incidence rates in military personnel and to establish contributions of viral and bacterial etiological agents. Materials and methods: During the epidemic season of 2022–2023, we evaluated the incidence and causes of respiratory diseases in military personnel based on a representative sample of 153 conscripts treated in a military health facility. Respiratory pathogens were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: Viral respiratory infections (63.4 %) and community-acquired pneumonia (26.8 %) were mainly diagnosed in the subjects. Among the causes of single virus respiratory infections (54.2 ± 5.5 %), adenovirus prevailed (84.4 ± 5.4 %) while other respiratory viruses, such as rhinoviruses and influenza B (4.4 ± 3.1 % each), SARS-CoV-2, parainfluenza, and coronaviruses (2.2 ± 2.2 % each) were registered in few cases. The main causative agents of lower respiratory infections (45.8 ± 5.5 %) were S. pneumoniae (63.2 ± 7.8 %), Chlamydophila pneumoniae (21.1 ± 6.6 %), and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (15.8 ± 5.8 %). Among mixed viral-bacterial infections community-acquired pneumonia (34.1 ± 7.4 %) was the most frequent. Conclusions: Viral pathogens prevailed over bacterial ones in the etiology of diseases of the respiratory system in the servicemen. The main causative agents of respiratory infections were adenovirus and S. pneumoniae.