Evaluation of Etiologic Agents of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Children Hospitalized Just Before Normalization of COVID-19

Abstract

Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are one of the most common causes of hospitalization among children in the earlychildhood period. Knowing the pathogens that cause pneumonia, its management will be more exact and effective. In this study,we aimed to investigate the frequency of pathogens causing LRTIs in children at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic by performinga real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction (RT-MPCR) test within our hospital. We included two hundred forty-seven children,aged between 1 month and 18 years, diagnosed with LRTIs, and hospitalized between May 2021 and April 2022. Demographiccharacteristics and clinical and laboratory findings were retrospectively collected from patients’ hospital records. Of the 247 childrendiagnosed with LRTIs, 153 (61.9%) were female. At least one pathogen was identified in the nasopharyngeal swap specimens of218 (88.3%) patients, and 74.9% (n=185) of them were viruses. The most common identified pathogens were respiratory syncytialvirus (24.7%), human bocavirus (21.1%), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (15.4%). 7.7% of identifiedpathogens were bacteria. Haemophilus influenzae was the most commonly detected bacteria. Despite a lengthy period of isolatingthe community causative agents of pneumonia, their frequency remains unchanged from before the isolation time. RT-MPCR isbeneficial for the early detection of pathogens and in the prevention of unnecessary antibiotic usage.