Pathogens inducing febrile respiratory syndrome among children in Qinghai province

Objective To study prevalence characteristics of pathogens inducing febrile respiratory syndrome among children in Qinghai province and to provide references for the control of the epidemic. Methods Totally 255 children aged less than 14 years seeking medical service for acute respiratory infection symptoms at 2 influenza surveillance sentinel hospitals in Xining city of Qianghai province were recruited and their clinical records were extracted and specimens of blood, respiratory secretions and urine were collected for isolations of 6 bacteria and nucleate detections of 8 viruses and Mycoplasma and Chlamydia with real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR).ResultsOverall 21 strains of bacteria (including Mycoplasma and Chlamydia) were detected in the child patients and the detection rate of pathogenic bacteria was 8.24%, with a major pathogen of Streptococcus penumoniae (52.38%).Totally 35 patients were positive to pathogenic viruses and the viral detection rate was 13.73%;the major pathogenic virus deteted was human adenovirus (37.14%), followed by human parainfluenza virus (22.86%).The detection rate of viruses was significantly higher than that of bacteria (χ²=3.932, P < 0.05).More bacterial positive samples were detected in July, August and September of a year and virus positive samples in October to December of a year.The bacterial and viral detection rates were 8.67% and 13.33% for the male patients and 7.61% and 14.29% for the female.There were no significant gender differences in the detection rates (P < 0.05). Conclusion The major pathogens related to febrile respiratory syndrome were human adenovirus, parainfluenza virus, and influenza virus among children in Qinghai province.