Name: Talita de Jesuz Nascimento
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 03/07/2019
Advisor:

Name	Role
Rita Elizabeth Checon de Freitas Silva	Advisor *

Examining board:

Name	Role
José Roberto Fioretto	External Examiner *
Moises Palaci	Internal Examiner *
Rita Elizabeth Checon de Freitas Silva	Advisor *

Summary: The Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) is responsible for great impact in mortality and morbidity due to acute respiratory infection in pediatric population. Respiratory viruses are the main etiologic agents of this syndrome. Therefore, identifying the main respiratory viruses and describing sociodemographic characteristics and clinical evolution in SARI patients may be a huge contribution to health professionals. This study is a 12-month cross-section, from February 2017 to January 2018 at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and emergency room of Hospital Infantil Nossa Senhora da Glória in Vitória, ES. Studied population was diagnosed with SARI, aged 1 day to 18 incomplete years of age. 66 patients were included in the study, from which nasopharynx or tracheal aspirate were collected to perform multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis, which allowed the identification of 13 respiratory viruses. Demographic data and follow-up information until discharging of patients were obtained from patients’ medical records. In 43 samples (65,2%) at least one virus was detected. The main virus was respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), present in 27 patients (62,8% of positive samples). Followed by metapneumovirus (23,3%) and adenoviruses (9,3%). March, April and May were the months with highest occurrence of RSV. Age median of patients in this study was 6 months and 10 days old. Approximately 70% of patients were less than 2 years old. Half of the patients presented some kind of previous comorbidity, being pulmonary diseases the main comorbidity found, followed by neural diseases. Main signs and symptoms existent were nonspecific of lower respiratory tract infections: cough, coryza and dyspnea. Radiological most frequent founding was diffuse interstitial infiltrate in 41 patients (64,1%). During admission in the hospital, 62,1% of patients needed mechanical ventilation. Hospital admission duration had a median of 13 days. Five patients died, all of which had a comorbidity. In four of those patients, at least one virus was detected. This study contributed to knowledge about viral etiology in pediatric age population hospitalized with SARI in Espirito Santo, data that was thus far absent. In addition, the present study allowed a panorama of pediatric population presenting this syndrome in emergency and PICU sectores, subsequently assisting adequate intervention to this population, in order to reduce morbi-mortality caused by this syndrome.

Keywords: Severe Acute Respiratory Infection. Respiratory viruses. Pediatric.