1. Type III Interferons, Viral Loads, Age, and Disease Severity in Young Children With Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection
- Author
-
Jeanette Taveras, Cristina Garcia-Maurino, Melissa Moore-Clingenpeel, Zhaohui Xu, Sara Mertz, Fang Ye, Phyl Chen, Shira H Cohen, Daniel Cohen, Mark E Peeples, Octavio Ramilo, and Asuncion Mejias
- Subjects
Interferon Lambda ,Infectious Diseases ,Child, Preschool ,Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human ,Patient Acuity ,Major Article ,Humans ,Infant ,Immunology and Allergy ,Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections ,Viral Load ,Child - Abstract
Background The interplay among respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) loads, mucosal interferons (IFN), and disease severity in RSV-infected children is poorly understood. Methods Children 6–24 months) and multivariable analyses performed to identify predictors of disease severity. Results In 2015–2019 we enrolled 219 RSV-infected children (78 outpatients; 141 inpatients) and 34 healthy controls. Type I, II, and III IFN concentrations were higher in children aged >6 versus 0–6 months and, like CXCL10, they were higher in outpatients than inpatients and correlated with RSV loads (P < .05). Higher IL6 concentrations increased the odds of hospitalization (odds ratio [OR], 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07–5.36) only in children >6 months, while higher IFN-λ2/3 concentrations had the opposite effect irrespective of age (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, .15–.86). Likewise, higher CXCL10 concentrations decreased the odds of hospitalization (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, .08–.48), oxygen administration (OR, 0.42; 95% CI, .21–.80),PICU admission (OR, 0.39; 95% CI, .20–.73), and prolonged hospitalization (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, .32–.98) irrespective of age. Conclusions Children with milder RSV infection and those aged >6 months had higher concentrations of mucosal IFNs, suggesting that maturation of mucosal IFN responses are associated with protection against severe RSV disease.
- Published
- 2022