Viral Infections in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Background and aims: The incidence of neonatal viral infections is probably underestimated. Our objective was to assess the incidence of viral infections among hospitalized infants in a level III neonatal intensive care unit, the associated clinical manifestations and outcome. Material and methods: We conducted an observational retrospective study of patients admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit over a ten year period (2000-2009), analyzing data of patients with laboratory confirmed viral infection. Results: A viral infection was diagnosed in 1.7% (n=68) of infants admitted to the NICU: 32.3% respiratory syncytial virus, 17.9% metapneumovirus, 17.9% influenza H1N1 and 13.4% cytomegalovirus. Other less found virus were rotavirus, adenovirus, enterovirus, parainfluenza, herpes simplex and varicella zoster. The medium length of stay was 30 days and most infants were not inborn. In the inborn infants the most common virus were influenza H1N1, cytomegalovirus and metapneumovirus. In 48.5% these infections occurred in preterm. The overall mortality was 4.5%. Conclusion: In our study the respiratory infections were the most common viral infections and the overall mortality was not negligible. It’s our responsibility to prevent viral infections, as well as help in their early detection and treatment. *Corresponding author: Sofia Águeda, M.D. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pedatrics, Centro Hospitalar São João, Porto, Portugal; Tel: 225 512 100; E-mail: [email protected] Received June 04, 2013; Accepted June 27, 2013; Published June 29, 2013 Citation: Águeda S, Leitão A, Rocha G, Guimarães H (2013) Viral Infections in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Pediat Therapeut 3: 154. doi:10.4172/21610665.1000154 Copyright: © 2013 Águeda S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.