In order to improve clinical management and prevention of viral infections in hospitalised children improved etiological insight is needed. The aim of the present study was to assess the spectrum of respiratory viral pathogens in children admitted to hospital with acute respiratory tract infections in Cyprus. For this purpose nasopharyngeal swab samples from 424 children less than 12 years of a...

BACKGROUND Respiratory syncytial virus and other respiratory tract viruses lead to common colds in most infants, whereas a minority develop acute severe bronchiolitis often requiring hospitalization. We hypothesized that such an excessive response to respiratory tract viral infection is caused by host factors reflected in pre-existing increased bronchial responsiveness. OBJECTIVE We sought to...

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is considered the most common viral agent of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children. It is commonly involved in bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants [1,2]. The virus infects the ciliated epithelial cells lining the airways, and their rapid destruction results in the symptoms characteristic of the infection, such as fever, rhinorrhea,...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis is the most common lower respiratory tract infection in infancy. To date, there is no effective therapy for RSV bronchiolitis. In order to investigate the efficacy of clarithromycin in the treatment of RSV bronchiolitis, the present authors conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing clarithromycin with placebo in 21 i...

Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) and Streptococcus pneumoniae are important causative agents of respiratory tract infections. Both pathogens are associated with seasonal disease outbreaks in the pediatric population, and can often be detected simultaneously in infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis or pneumonia. It has been described that respiratory virus infections may predispose for...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infection and the leading cause of hospitalization among young children, incurring high annual costs among US children under the age of 5 years. Palivizumab has been found to be effective in reducing hospitalization and preventing serious lower respiratory tract infections in high-risk infants. This ...

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is one of the most common causes of lower respiratory tract infections in young children, immunocompromised patients (children and adults), patients with chronic respiratory diseases and elderly people. Reinfections occur throughout the life, but the severity of disease decreased with subsequent infection. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of R...