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. 2017 Nov 30;12(11):e0186735.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186735. eCollection 2017.

Respiratory syncytial and influenza viruses in children under 2 years old with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in Maputo, 2015

Mirela Pale  1 , Afonso Nacoto  1 , Almiro Tivane  1 , Neuza Nguenha  1 , Loira Machalele  1 , Félix Gundane  1 , Délcio Muteto  1 , Josina Chilundo  2 , Sandra Mavale  2 , Cynthia Semá-Baltazar  1 , Germano Pires  1 , Orvalho Augusto  3 , Tufária Mussá  1   3 , Eduardo Gudo  1
Affiliations

Respiratory syncytial and influenza viruses in children under 2 years old with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in Maputo, 2015

Mirela Pale et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: Although respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus (influenza) infections are one of the leading causes of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) and death in young children worldwide, little is known about the burden of these pathogens in Mozambique.

Material and methods: From January 2015 to January 2016, nasopharyngeal swabs from 450 children, aged ≤2 years, who had been admitted to the Pediatric Department of the Maputo Central Hospital (HCM) in Mozambique, suffering with SARI were enrolled and tested for influenza and RSV using a real-time PCR assay.

Results: Influenza and RSV were detected in 2.4% (11/450) and 26.7% (113/424) of the participants. Children with influenza were slightly older than those infected with RSV (10 months in influenza-infected children compared to 3 months in RSV-infected children); male children were predominant in both groups (63.6% versus 54.9% in children with influenza and RSV, respectively). There was a trend towards a higher frequency of influenza (72.7%) and RSV (93.8%) cases in the dry season. Bronchopneumonia, bronchitis and respiratory distress were the most common diagnoses at admission. Antibiotics were administered to 27,3% and 15,9% of the children with influenza and RSV, respectively. Two children, of whom, one was positive for RSV (aged 6 months) and another was positive for Influenza (aged 3 months) died; both were children of HIV seropositive mothers and had bronchopneumonia.

Conclusions: Our data demonstrated that RSV, and less frequently influenza, occurs in children with SARI in urban/sub-urban settings from southern Mozambique. The occurrence of deaths in small children suspected of being HIV-infected, suggests that particular attention should be given to this vulnerable population. Our data also provide evidence of antibiotics prescription in children with respiratory viral infection, which represents an important public health problem and calls for urgent interventions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flowchart of recruitment of study participants and sample testing.
Of the 439 negative samples for influenza, 424 were tested for RSV; 15 samples were not tested due to lack of reagents.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Monthly and seasonal variation of cases of influenza and RSV.
The graph depicts the monthly and seasonal variation of cases of influenza (right axis) and RSV (left axis).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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