Virological Profile of Acute Respiratory Infections in Children at Dakar CHU

Abstract

Introduction: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are a global public health priority. They are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children, especially in developing countries. The main objective of this study was to see mainly the virological aspects in ARI in children in Senegalese hospitals Methodology: We had conducted a prospective descriptive mono-centric study over a period of one year (from July 01, 2017 to June 30, 2018) at the Albert Royer National Children's Hospital in Dakar. Results: The hospital frequency for acute respiratory infections in children was 3.7%. The average age was 23.7 months with extremes between 1 month and 144 months. The peaks of consultations were found in August, March and April with respectively 22%, 15.6% and 12.8%. Fever, respiratory distress and pulmonary condensation syndrome were the main signs found on examination in our patients. Virologic tests were positive in 80.7%. The viruses most frequently found in the samples were the Rhinovirus in 33% of the samples, the respiratory syncytial virus in 24.8% and the coronavirus in 15.6%. Among the diagnoses retained, pneumonia was predominant and found in 61 of the cases, or a prevalence of 59.9%, followed by acute bronchiolitis with a prevalence of 16.51%. The average length of hospital stay was 10 days. Conclusion: Acute respiratory infections in children are still a public health problem in developing countries; children under the age of five years are the most affected, hence the need to strengthen programs to fight ARI. The identification of germs is essential in the treatment and epidemiological surveillance in our regions.