Prevalence of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in infants in Khartoum State, Sudan

Abstract

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most important cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRI) in early childhood. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence rate of the respiratory infection in infants 0-2 years, with special reference to RSV through detecting its antibodies (IgG) in infants in Khartoum state. Data about the incidence of respiratory infection in infants in Sudan during 2004-2008 was collected and analyzed. A total of 92 serum samples were collected during June � September in 2009 from infants with respiratory disease in Gaafer Ibn Ouf and Almaygoma hospitals in Khartoum State. Sera were tested for the detection of RSV IgG using ELISA. It was noticed that the main disease that cause hospitalization and leading to death in infants was pneumonia and it had higher prevalence rate in Khartoum state. A total of 24 (26%) sera were found to be positive for RSV IgG. The sero-prevalence rate of RSV was found higher in 1-2 year age group, no significant difference (P = 0.635) between males and females was found. The data showed that there was a significant difference between clinical signs and RSV infection in pneumonia, acute bronchitis and asthma (p = 0.05, 0.035, 0.035). RSV antibodies were detected more in re-infected infants with respiratory infections than first time infected infants (28.8%). There was a significant difference between the RSV infection in infants and the past history of respiratory infections in their mothers (p = 0.015). The study showed that RSV infection was found to be highly prevalent in Khartoum state and it has major role in causing respiratory tract infection. Greater efforts are needed to prevent pneumonia among children.