Seasonal patterns and prevalence of respiratory pathogens in children with acute respiratory infections in Wuhan, China.

Introduction: Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is the major cause of disease and death in children. This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of common pathogens causing ARI in children aged 6 years or younger in Wuhan and the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the detection rate of these pathogens.

Methodology: Between March 2019 and January 2023, throat swab specimens were collected from 12,743 hospitalized children with ARI symptoms. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) capillary electrophoresis fragment analysis was performed to detect nucleic acids of 12 respiratory pathogens. Then, we analyzed the seasonal epidemic and mixed infection patterns of various pathogens and assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the detection rate of these pathogens.

Results: Of the 12,743 samples collected, 6,200 cases (48.65%) were positive for at least one pathogen. Human rhinoviruses (HRV) had the highest detection rate (2,475 cases, 19.42%). HRV was prevalent mainly in spring and autumn. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was mainly popular in fall and winter. The detection rates of respiratory pathogens were significantly lower than average during the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0.01). Children aged 1-3 years were found to be more susceptible to ARI. Among the positive cases, 405 cases (3.18%) had co-infection with two or more pathogens.

Conclusions: This study presents important findings on the epidemic seasonality and mixed infection patterns of common respiratory pathogens in children aged 6 years or younger with ARI in Wuhan and found that the COVID-19 pandemic had altered the epidemiology of ARI in this population.