Introduction:

Acute respiratory infections represent a health problem in children, with high morbidity and high mortality rates.

Objective:

To determine the circulation of respiratory viruses in children admitted with a diagnosis of acute respiratory infection, negative to COVID-19.

Methods:

Descriptive observational study in 119 children with acute respiratory infection, in the ages from 0 to 6, and with hospital admission in the period from October 2021 to April 2022. Nasopharyngeal exudate samples were taken for virological study (real-time polymerase chain reaction). The variables studied were: age, sex, clinical diagnosis, period of occurrence and isolation of respiratory viruses.

Results:

The female sex predominated with 51% and the age corresponding to the neonatal period with 50 %, followed by infants between 1 and 11 months (40%), and only 10% in the ages from 1 to 6 years. 42 % of the samples with a predominance of CoV229E (78%) were positive; other viruses such as influenza A (6 %), respiratory syncytial (6 %), CoVOC43 (2%) and rhinovirus (2%) were isolated. CoV229E was common in patients with high acute respiratory infection (48.7%), followed by severe acute respiratory infection (20.5%) and bronchiolitis (28.2%). Viral co-infection was detected only in severe acute respiratory infection, specifically by IFA/CoV229E (4%) and CoV229E/bocavirus (2%).

Conclusions:

The importance of molecular biology for viral isolation is highlighted. The Coronavirus CoV229E has relevance in cases of acute high and severe respiratory infection mainly in children under 1 year old.

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