Related Articles

Interference between respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus in respiratory tract infections in children.

Clin Microbiol Infect. 2015 Oct 16;

Authors: Karppinen S, Toivonen L, Schuez-Havupalo L, Waris M, Peltola V

Abstract
An acute viral respiratory infection might prevent infections by other viruses because of the antiviral innate immune response. However, by using PCR methods, simultaneous detection of 2 or more respiratory viruses is frequent. We analyzed the effect of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection on the occurrence of simultaneous rhinovirus (RV) infection in children within a birth cohort study setting. We used PCR for virus detection in nasal swabs collected from children with an acute respiratory tract infection at the age of 0 to 24 months and from healthy control children, who were matched for age and date of sample collection. Of 226 children with a RSV infection, 18 (8.0%) had a coinfection with RV, whereas RV was detected in 31 (14%) of 226 control children (p = 0.049 by chi-square test). Adjustment for sex, number of siblings, and socioeconomic status strengthened the negative association between RSV and RV (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.24-0.90; p = 0.02). The median duration of symptoms (cough, rhinorrhea, or fever) was 11 days in children with a single RSV infection and 14 days in children with a RSV/RV coinfection (p = 0.02). Our results suggest that the presence of RSV reduces the probability of RV infection, but if a coinfection occurs, both viruses cause clinical symptoms.

PMID: 26482269 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]