Clinical, epidemiological and etiological features of severe acute respiratory infections in hospitalized patients

Objective. To study the clinical, epidemiological and etiological characteristics of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in in-patients in Ekaterinburg during the epidemic season 2017–2018. Patients and methods. 403 individual medical records were studied. Etiological decoding was carried out by isolating RNA or DNA of respiratory viruses from nasopharyngeal swabs by polymerase chain reaction. Results. SARI in hospitalized patients were caused by both influenza viruses (В Yamagata – 25.2% and А(H1N1)pdm09 – 11.0%) and viruses of non-influenza etiology (respiratory syncytial virus (RS-virus) – 13.3%, rhinovirus – 12.9%, metapneumovirus – 11.0%). It was found that viruses were more often secreted in children than in adults; among children of the younger age group (0–2 years old) viruses of non-influenza etiology were detected significantly more often, and in children 7–14 years old, influenza viruses were more often isolated. Patients with upper respiratory tract infections were significantly more likely to have influenza viruses (78.9%) than patients with lower respiratory tract infections (21.1%). Conclusion. The results of the study indicate the importance of hospital surveillance for SARI from the point of view of the etiological diagnosis of respiratory infections, the study of epidemiology and typical clinical manifestations for the timely diagnosis and development of additional preventive and anti-epidemic measures. Key words: hospital surveillance, influenza, PCR diagnostics, respiratory infections, epidemiology, etiology