Clinical considerations of febrile infants with respiratory symptoms according to the respiratory viral detection

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Respiratory viral infection is one of the most common diseases in febrile infants. This study evaluates the clinical characteristics of febrile infants who were hospitalized for respiratory symptoms, with or without respiratory viral detection. METHODS: Seventy-six hospitalized infants aged 28-90 days with fever and respiratory symptoms from January 2011 to December 2012 were enrolled in this study. We performed reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to identify 7 respiratory viruses from nasopharyngeal swabs. Also, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records to analyze the clinical features. RESULTS: Respiratory viruses were detected in 45 patients (RVP group). Respiratory syncytial virus (n=16) was most frequently detected, followed by human rhinovirus (n=10). Age, sex, past illness, and sibling's respiratory symptoms showed no differences between the 2 groups. Infants in the RVP group had a significantly higher incidence of tachypnea (22.2%) and abnormal breathing sounds (wheezing and rales, 57.8%) than those in the negative group (P=0.021, P=0.002 each). There were no significant differences in laboratory findings between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: In our study, RSV was the most common virus in febrile infants aged 28-90 days with respiratory symptoms. Tachypnea and abnormal breathing sounds were more reliable clinical features to guess the detection of respiratory viruses. Further studies are required to confirm the values of these clinical features in febrile infants who have lower respiratory tract infections.