Contribution of Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Bacteria to the Prevalence of Asthma in an Adult Population

The Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is one of the most important causes of respiratory tract illness in infants and preschool children. RSV has been pointed out as a risk, factor in the onset of bronchial asthma in pediatric patients, but its role in adult asthma is controversial. This .study attempts to determine the presence of RSV antigen and bacteria in asthmatic adults of Zulia state, Venezuela. Pharyngeal swabs were obtained from 190 adults (143 asthmatics in crisis and 53 non-asthmatic). The RSV antigen was determined by the ELISA technique and the presence of bacteria by conventional bacteriological techniques. Asthmatic patients showed an RSV incidence of 42,05%, while viral antigens were not detected in the control group. As, for the presence of bacteria, the asthmatic individuals presented a higher percentage (84,15%) of pathogenic bacteria like the Streptococcus pyogenes and Escherichia coli than the non-asthmatic group (p