Prevalence of non- SARS CoV-2 respiratory virus infection in children during COVID-19 pandemic in Chennai, South India

Abstract

Acute respiratory virus infections (ARIs) are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among children worldwide. Respiratory viral infections in children have been significantly impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Variations in the prevalence of respiratory virus infections have been associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which corresponds to the clinical epidemiology of community-acquired respiratory viruses. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of acute respiratory viral infection in COVID-19 negative children. The study included 100 SARS-CoV2 negative children with respiratory tract infections. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the prevalence of respiratory viruses causing ARI in children. In our study, adenovirus and HRSV-A were predominantly reported in SARS-CoV2 negative children. The results of the study indicated that the incidence of viruses causing acute respiratory tract infections in children changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• acute respiratory infection
• pandemic
• prevalence
• viral infection