Prevalence of common respiratory viruses in children: insights from post-pandemic surveillance.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected healthcare systems worldwide, impacting the occurrence and management of respiratory illnesses. This has also influenced respiratory infections' role in childhood mortality. Surveillance of common respiratory viruses in Ghana is limited, making it crucial to assess the prevalence of respiratory viral infections, particularly in children, in the post-pandemic era. This study provides data on the prevalence of respiratory viruses and the associated risk factors in symptomatic children aged 5 or younger in an urban paediatric hospital setting.

Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study with a convenience sampling method, conducted in four health facilities: Asokwa Children's Hospital, HopeXchange Medical Centre, University Health Services-KNUST, and Kumasi South Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana, between August 2022 and June 2023. Recruitment was not done in parallel in each hospital. Oropharyngeal swabs were collected from 303 children ≤ 5 years old and screened by RT-qPCR for common respiratory viruses.

Results: Out of the 303 patients enrolled in the study, 165 (54.4%) were male, and 122 (40.3%) were aged from 13 to 36 months. The median age of the patients was 19 months. The most common symptoms reported were cough (87.0%), runny nose (87.0%), and fever (72.0%). Respiratory viruses were detected in 100 (33.0%) of the samples, with 36 (12.0%) testing positive for Human metapneumovirus (HMPV), 27 (8.9%) for Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and 20 (6.6%) for Human Adenovirus (HAdV). In 8.0% of the cases, multiple viruses were detected, with HAdV being the most common (75.0%). Children under 6 months (AOR: 4.81, 95% CI: 1.20-24.60) had a higher risk of RSV detection compared to children aged 37 to 60 months. Furthermore, it was found that caregivers with tertiary education had higher odds of HMPV detection (AOR: 6.91, 95% CI: 1.71-47.3).

Conclusion: The detection of multiple viruses with a higher prevalence of HMPV and RSV in our study emphasises the need for a scaled-up and sustained surveillance of respiratory viruses in Ghana in the post-pandemic era. Such an establishment in respiratory virus surveillance systems in Ghana would help in the timely detection and education on viral seasonal patterns, which will inform public health responses.