Search

Background: Upper Respiratory Tract Illness is mostly caused by viruses in all age groups especially children. It is implicated as a leading cause of mortality amongst the children of the 3rd world countries. Among the viral etiologies common are Parainfluenza virus, Rhino virus, Adeno virus, Respiratory syncytial virus, Human metapneumo virus, Infleunza virus. Laboratory diagnosis of URTI is based on PCR and historical modalities like tissue culture are not done routinely and find use only in reference laboratories and academic institutes. Material and Methods: Throat swab, nasopharyngeal swabs and nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from patients ( ≤ 3years) and placed inside a viral transport media and transported at 4o C. RNA was extracted and Duplex RtPCR was run. Results: In the paediatric patients the most common age group affected was between 1-2 years, with a slight female predominace. Majority of the patients presented with features of upper respiratory tract infection. High birth order, Low birth weight, undernutrition, poor socio-economic status appear to be significant risk factors. Conclusion: URTI of viral origin appear to be the most important presentation of ARI in children below 3years of age in the population under study. Demographic factors such as high bith order, low socio-economic background and malnutrition appear to have significant impact on the morbidity due to ARI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: India witnessed two distinct COVID-19 waves. We evaluated the clinico-demographic profile of patients infected during first wave (FW) and second wave (SW) in a hospital in north-east India. Methodology: Patients who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 specific gene by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction across FW and SW were diagnosed as COVID-19 positive. The clinico-demographic data of these positive patients were retrieved from the specimen-referral-form. Vital parameters including respiratory rate, SpO2, data on COVID-19-associated mucormycosis (CAM), COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (CARDS) were obtained from hospital records for inpatients. Patients were categorized based on disease severity. The data obtained in both waves were analyzed comparatively. Results: Out of a total of 119,016 samples tested, 10,164 (8.5%) were SARS-CoV-2 positive (2907 during FW, 7257 during SW). Male predominance was seen across both waves (FW: 68.4%; SW:58.4%), with more children infected during SW. Patients with travel history (24%) and contact with laboratory confirmed cases (61%) were significantly higher during SW relative to FW (10.9% and 42.1% respectively). Healthcare worker infection was higher in SW (5.3%). Symptoms like vomiting [14.8%], diarrhea [10.5%], anosmia [10.4%] and aguesia [9.4%] were more in SW. More patients developed CARDS in SW (6.7%) compared to FW (3.4%) with 85% and 70% patients expiring across FW and SW respectively. No case of CAM is documented in our study. Conclusions: This was probably the most comprehensive study from north-east India. Industrial oxygen cylinder usage may have been the source of CAM in the rest of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]