TY - JOUR
TI - Otitis and respiratory distress episodes following a respiratory
syncytial virus infection
AU - Kafetzis, DA
AU - Astra, H
AU - Tsolia, M
AU - Liapi, G
AU - Mathioudakis, J
AU - and Kallergi, K
JO - Clinical Microbiology and Infection
PY - 2003
VL - 9
TODO - 10
SP - 1006-1010
PB - Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
SN - 1198-743X
TODO - 10.1046/j.1469-0691.2003.00715.x
TODO - RSV; otitis media; respiratory distress; bronchiolitis
TODO - Objective To document, over two consecutive respiratory syncytial virus
(RSV) seasons, the occurrence of acute otitis media (AOM) and recurrence
of respiratory distress in children <2 years of age hospitalized for
respiratory distress.
Methods Patients were examined during hospitalization and at 6 weeks and
6 months after discharge. RSV testing was performed on all patients, and
hospitalized patients were evaluated daily for the occurrence of AOM.
Results In total, 347 children were enrolled; 54.8% were RSV positive,
and 45.2% were RSV negative. Children were most frequently diagnosed as
having bronchiolitis (71.9%) or asthmatic bronchitis (17.9%); other
diagnoses included pneumonia, laryngitis, and rhinitis. During
hospitalization, AOM was diagnosed in 16.8% of RSV-positive versus
8.3% of RSV-negative children (P < 0.05). Six weeks after discharge,
AOM was reported in 10.4% of RSV-positive as compared with 5.8% of
RSV-negative patients. Six months later, AOM was reported in 2.9% of
the RSV-positive and 7.6% of the RSV-negative patients. A second
episode of acute respiratory distress, which either required (9) or did
not require (35) hospitalization, occurred in 18.4% of the total
population, with similar proportions of RSV-positive and RSV-negative
children (17% versus 18.6%).
Conclusion We conclude that RSV appears to be an important contributing
factor for the occurrence of AOM in young children hospitalized with
respiratory distress. The occurrence of a second episode of acute
respiratory distress did not appear to correlate with the previous RSV
infection, but longer-term follow-up is required.
ER -