Li Tiewei, Li Xiaojuan, Liu Xinrui, Dong Lili, Fu Hui, Lin Fatao, Tang Yu, Jin Zhipeng
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Children's Infection and Immunity, Zhengzhou, China.
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Henan Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China.
Heliyon. 2024 Aug 23;10(17):e36809. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36809. eCollection 2024 Sep 15.
The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiological trend of respiratory pathogens infections among children after the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
This study enrolled 575,373 children who came to our hospital for relevant respiratory pathogen antigen/antibody testing due to respiratory symptoms such as fever and cough. The demographic and laboratory data, including age, gender, testing time, and influenza A virus (IAV), influenza B virus (IBV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), and (MP) results, were collected from electronic medical records. SPSS (version 21.0) and GraphPad Prism 9 software were used for statistical analysis and figure creation.
79,746 children tested positive for IAV IgM, and 3196 children tested positive for IBV IgM, with an overall positive rate of 28.5 % for IAV and 1.1 % for IBV. IAV infections peaked at 21,502 cases in March 2023. 80,699 children underwent RSV IgM testing from April to October 2023, with 5726 (7.1 %) testing positive. The apex of RSV infections occurred in May 2023, with 2140 cases. Regarding ADV, 100,460 children underwent testing from April to October 2023, with 1981 (11.9 %) testing positive. The pinnacle of ADV infections reached 4546 cases in November 2023. Concerning MP, 474,913 children underwent MP testing, with 73,833 (15.5 %) testing positive. The zenith of MP infections occurred in November 2023, with 25,291 cases. Further analysis revealed that the outbreaks of these pathogens are occurring earlier than in previous years. Additionally, our data showed that children aged >3 years accounted for 79.6 %, 87.8 %, 88.6 %, and 77.8 % of the total IAV-positive, IBV-positive, ADV-positive, and MP-positive children, respectively. Conversely, RSV primarily infected children <6 years.
Various respiratory pathogens showed an epidemic trend in children among children post-COVID-19. These results indicated that we should pay timely attention to the epidemiological trends and characteristics of respiratory pathogens in children after the COVID-19 pandemic and provide relevant information for society and clinical practice.
本研究旨在调查2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行后儿童呼吸道病原体感染的流行病学趋势。
本研究纳入了575373名因发热、咳嗽等呼吸道症状前来我院进行相关呼吸道病原体抗原/抗体检测的儿童。从电子病历中收集人口统计学和实验室数据，包括年龄、性别、检测时间以及甲型流感病毒（IAV）、乙型流感病毒（IBV）、呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）、腺病毒（ADV）和肺炎支原体（MP）的检测结果。使用SPSS（21.0版）和GraphPad Prism 9软件进行统计分析和图表制作。
79746名儿童IAV IgM检测呈阳性，3196名儿童IBV IgM检测呈阳性，IAV总体阳性率为28.5%，IBV为1.1%。IAV感染在2023年3月达到峰值，为21502例。2023年4月至10月，80699名儿童接受了RSV IgM检测，其中5726名（7.1%）检测呈阳性。RSV感染高峰出现在2023年5月，为2140例。关于ADV，2023年4月至10月有100460名儿童接受检测，其中1981名（1.9%）检测呈阳性。ADV感染高峰在2023年11月达到4546例。关于MP，474913名儿童接受了MP检测，其中73833名（15.5%）检测呈阳性。MP感染高峰出现在2023年11月，为25291例。进一步分析显示，这些病原体的暴发比往年更早。此外，我们的数据显示，3岁以上儿童分别占IAV阳性、IBV阳性、ADV阳性和MP阳性儿童总数的79.6%、87.8%、88.6%和77.8%。相反，RSV主要感染6岁以下儿童。
COVID-19大流行后，多种呼吸道病原体在儿童中呈现流行趋势。这些结果表明，我们应及时关注COVID-19大流行后儿童呼吸道病原体的流行病学趋势和特征，并为社会和临床实践提供相关信息。
