Epidemiology of respiratory viruses in patients hospitalized with near-fatal asthma, acute exacerbations of asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

We compared the prevalence and spectrum of common respiratory viruses among patients with near-fatal asthma, acute exacerbations of asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and the relation of these findings to acute respiratory symptoms. We obtained adequate samples of respiratory secretions from 17 patients hospitalized with near-fatal asthma, 29 with acute asthma, and 14 with COPD. We used a polymerase chain reaction–based method to test for six common respiratory viruses in samples from endotracheal tube aspirates from patients with near-fatal asthma, and from induced sputum specimens from patients with acute asthma or COPD. Respiratory symptoms (runny nose, sore throat, fever, chills, malaise, and cough) were recorded. Quiescent-phase induced sputum specimens were examined from patients who were initially virus positive. Viral nucleic acids were detected in 52% (31/60) of acute-phase specimens and 7% (2/29) of quiescent-phase specimens examined ( P