Abstract:Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) positive children in Jiangsu, and to provide reference for the prevention and treatment of RSV infection. Methods A total of 11 574 children with respiratory tract infection from June 2018 to June 2020 were selected. RSV antigen was detected by direct immunofluorescence assay in all children. Other 6 kinds of respiratory viruses were detected in RSV positive specimens to understand the mixed infection. Results The positive rate of RSV in 11 574 samples was 12.34%(1 428/11 574), and the male to female ratio of RSV positive children was 1.92:1 (915/476). The detection rate of male children (12.79%) was significantly higher than that of female children (10.77%)(χ2 =10.951, P<0.05). The positive rate of RSV in infants aged 1-12 months was significantly higher than that in infants aged over 12 months (χ2 =27.48, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in RSV positive rate between 12-24 months group, 24-36 months group, 36-month-old group and 6-12 years group (P>0.05). The positive rate of RSV from November to March was significantly higher than that from other months (χ2 =9.451, P<0.05). The highest positive rate was 2 months (16.99%). Of the 1428 RSV-positive cases, 148 were co-infected with at least one other respiratory virus, accounting for 10.36%(148/1 428) of the RSV-positive cases. Among them, 117 cases were double infection and 31 cases were triple infection. RSV combined with PIV3 infection was the most common in 39 cases (26.35%). Conclusion RSV positive children are mainly concentrated in infants under 12 months of age in Jiangsu province, and the incidence is high from November to March. The protection of infants under 12 months of age should be strengthened, especially in hospitalized cases and male cases, which are often mixed with infection.
