Investigation of occurrence patterns of respiratory syncytial virus A and B in infected-patients from Cheonan, Korea

Background Respiratory infections caused by viruses affect the lower respiratory tract; these infections are severe in patients with underlying diseases and can even lead to death. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), one of the causative agents of respiratory viral infections, is the most common cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in children and adults. Methods Respiratory specimens (nasopharyngeal aspirate, nasal swab, throat swab, etc.), which were sent to the Department of laboratory medicine from January 2012 to December 2018 for detection of respiratory viruses via real time reverse transcription PCR (Real time RT-PCR) were used in this study. RSV detected by real-time RT-PCR were analyzed on the basis of co-infection, sex and age of the patients, and year and month of sample collection. Results During the study period, we observed that the RSV detection rate was 12.8% (n = 1150/9010); the detection rate of RSV-A (7.1%) was higher than that of RSV-B (5.8%). The detection rate of RSV was the highest at 36.5% in December, and RSV-A and RSV-B were in vogue every year. Co-infection rate of RSVs was the highest in the patients over 80 years of age; RSVs showed the highest Co-infection with Rhinoviruses. Conclusions During the study period, prevalence was different among the two subtypes of RSV, and the average age of RSV-B-positive patients was higher than that of RSV-A. Co-infection rate tended to increase every year. RSVs cause mild as well as severe infections. There are reports of serious clinical progress as RSVs cause overlapping infections with other viruses and increase the risk of secondary bacterial infections. Thus, further research on RSV should be done. Keywords: Respiratory syncytial virus, Respiratory virus, Epidemiology, Real-time RT-PCR