Contes Kaia M, Liu Benjamin M
Department of Biology, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA.
Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC 20010, USA.
Pathogens. 2025 Mar 7;14(3):262. doi: 10.3390/pathogens14030262.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel human coronavirus, emerged in late 2019 and rapidly evolved into a pandemic around the world. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically changed the epidemiology and seasonality of other traditional respiratory viruses, e.g., influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, enterovirus, etc. These traditional respiratory viruses have transmission mode and clinical symptoms similar to SARS-CoV-2 but may differ in clinical outcomes and management. Co-infection between SARS-CoV-2 and one or more traditional respiratory viruses have been reported in the literature but have shown mixed evidence in clinical outcomes. With SARS-CoV-2 evolving into mild Omicron variants, it is believed that SARS-CoV-2 co-circulates with other respiratory viruses, which in turn affect the epidemiology and clinical course of respiratory viral infections. In response to these changes, multiplex molecular tests for SARS-CoV-2 and one or more traditional respiratory viruses are attracting more attention in the field and have been developed into a variety of testing modalities. In this review, we describe the seasonality (i.e., in the Northern Hemisphere), epidemiology, and clinical significance of traditional respiratory viruses and their co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the post-COVID era. Furthermore, we review commonly used multiplex molecular tests and their applications for the detection of respiratory viruses and their co-infections. Altogether, this review not only sheds light on the epidemiology and clinical significance of respiratory viral infections and co-infections in the post-COVID era, and but also provides insights into the laboratory-based diagnoses of respiratory viral infections using multiplex molecular testing.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）是一种新型人类冠状病毒，于2019年末出现，并迅速在全球演变成一场大流行。冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行极大地改变了其他传统呼吸道病毒的流行病学和季节性，例如流感、呼吸道合胞病毒、肠道病毒等。这些传统呼吸道病毒的传播模式和临床症状与SARS-CoV-2相似，但临床结果和管理可能有所不同。文献中已报道了SARS-CoV-2与一种或多种传统呼吸道病毒的合并感染，但临床结果的证据不一。随着SARS-CoV-2演变成温和的奥密克戎变体，人们认为SARS-CoV-2与其他呼吸道病毒共同传播，进而影响呼吸道病毒感染的流行病学和临床过程。针对这些变化，针对SARS-CoV-2和一种或多种传统呼吸道病毒的多重分子检测在该领域正受到越来越多的关注，并已发展出多种检测方式。在本综述中，我们描述了传统呼吸道病毒在COVID后时代的季节性（即北半球）、流行病学和临床意义，以及它们与SARS-CoV-2的合并感染情况。此外，我们还综述了常用的多重分子检测及其在检测呼吸道病毒及其合并感染方面的应用。总之，本综述不仅阐明了COVID后时代呼吸道病毒感染和合并感染的流行病学和临床意义，还为使用多重分子检测进行呼吸道病毒感染的实验室诊断提供了见解。
