Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of the pathogen spectrum of lower respiratory tract infection and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) subtypes in children under 5 years old in Changzhou from 2024 to 2025.
METHODS Sputum specimens were collected from children under 5 years old with lower respiratory tract infection admitted to the Respiratory Department of Changzhou Children's Hospital from Feb. 2024 to Jan. 2025. Nucleic acid testing was conducted for 13 pathogens, and the detection rates of pathogenic bacteria in children of different age groups and seasons was analyzed.
RESULTS The pathogen detection rate was 81.08% in 2 172 specimens. The detection rate of single pathogens was 45.49%, while that of mixed pathogens was 35.59%, showing a statistically significant difference (P<0.001). The detection rate of bacterial pathogens was 41.94% (911/2 172), and non-bacterial pathogens was 66.11% (1 436/2 172), with a statistically significant difference (P<0.001). The top three non-bacterial pathogens in terms of detection rate were RSV, Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) and human rhinovirus (HRV). There was no statistically significant difference in the overall pathogen detection rate among different age groups. The detection rates of MP, adenovirus (ADV) and parainfluenza virus (PIV) were higher in the 3−5 years age group, while the detection rates of RSV-A/B, coronavirus (CoV) and pertussis were higher in the 1−<3 years age group (P<0.05). The detection rates of respiratory pathogens varied across seasons, with higher rates in autumn and winter than in spring and summer (P=0.004). HRV and PIV were prevalent in autumn, while RSV and Streptococcus pneumoniae were predominant in winter and spring. Influenza virus (IFV) was more common in winter, whereas ADV, CoV, MP and pertussis had higher detection rates in summer. Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) had the highest detection rate in spring. The detection rate of RSV-B (81.46%) was higher than that of RSV-A (19.72%), with 5 cases of mixed RSV-A and RSV-B infection.
CONCLUSIONS RSV, MP and HRV are the main non-bacterial pathogens causing lower respiratory tract infection in children in Changzhou from 2024 to 2025. The peak infection periods for RSV and pertussis occur in the 1−<3 years age group. RSV and IFV are predominantly prevalent in winter, while MP and ADV are more active in summer. Among RSV subtypes, RSV-B is predominant.