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. 2019 May;13(3):226-232.
doi: 10.1111/irv.12629. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Longitudinal active sampling for respiratory viral infections across age groups

Marta Galanti  1 , Ruthie Birger  1 , Minhaz Ud-Dean  1 , Ioan Filip  2 , Haruka Morita  1 , Devon Comito  1 , Simon Anthony  3 , Greg A Freyer  1 , Sadiat Ibrahim  1 , Benjamin Lane  1 , Chanel Ligon  1 , Raul Rabadan  2 , Atinuke Shittu  1 , Eudosie Tagne  1 , Jeffrey Shaman  1
Affiliations

Longitudinal active sampling for respiratory viral infections across age groups

Marta Galanti et al. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2019 May.

Abstract

Background: Respiratory viral infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, their characterization is incomplete because prevalence estimates are based on syndromic surveillance data. Here, we address this shortcoming through the analysis of infection rates among individuals tested regularly for respiratory viral infections, irrespective of their symptoms.

Methods: We carried out longitudinal sampling and analysis among 214 individuals enrolled at multiple New York City locations from fall 2016 to spring 2018. We combined personal information with weekly nasal swab collection to investigate the prevalence of 18 respiratory viruses among different age groups and to assess risk factors associated with infection susceptibility.

Results: 17.5% of samples were positive for respiratory viruses. Some viruses circulated predominantly during winter, whereas others were found year round. Rhinovirus and coronavirus were most frequently detected. Children registered the highest positivity rates, and adults with daily contacts with children experienced significantly more infections than their counterparts without children.

Conclusion: Respiratory viral infections are widespread among the general population with the majority of individuals presenting multiple infections per year. The observations identify children as the principal source of respiratory infections. These findings motivate further active surveillance and analysis of differences in pathogenicity among respiratory viruses.

Keywords: prevalence of respiratory viruses; respiratory viral infections; seasonality of respiratory viruses; susceptibility to respiratory infections.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A, Positive (color) and negative (white bars) samples aggregated by week. The weekly distribution for each age group is shown in the Supporting information. B, Time series highlighting the distinction between viruses with and without a seasonal pattern. Weekly positive results for each virus are normalized on the total number of tests collected within the week. Fewer samples were collected in late spring and summer. The spikes in prevalence of coronavirus in May and July are likely artifacts due to the lower numbers of samples collected
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of the number of infection events per 10 tests among the four groups. The boxplots show the difference among the medians of the groups (red lines). Where the notches in the boxplot do not overlap, it is possible to state at 95% confidence level that the true medians differ
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage of respiratory virus infections due to each agent across the four groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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