Journal Article

Epidemiological trends of respiratory tract pathogens detected via mPCR in Australian adult patients before COVID-19

Aung, Ar K., Yu, Christiaan, Grech, Audrey K., Paul, Eldho, Foo, Chuan T.

2024

Overview

Background Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are a major global health burden due to their high morbidity and mortality. This retrospective study described the epidemiology of respiratory pathogens in adults over a 5-year period at an Australian tertiary healthcare network. Methods All multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction respiratory samples taken between the 1st of November 2014 and the 31st of October 2019 were included in this study. Overall prevalence and variations according to seasons, age groups and sex were analysed, as well as factors associated with prolonged hospital and intensive care length of stay. Results There were 12,453 pathogens detected amongst the 12,185 positive samples, with coinfection rates of 3.7%. Picornavirus (Rhinovirus ), Influenza A and respiratory syncytial virus were the most commonly detected pathogens. Mycoplasma pneumoniae was the most commonly detected atypical bacteria. Significant differences in the prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae and Human metapneumovirus infections were found between sexes. Longest median length of intensive care and hospital stay was for Legionella species. Seasonal variations were evident for certain pathogens. Conclusions The high rates of pathogen detection and hospitalisation in this real-world study highlights the significant burden of RTIs, and the urgent need for an improved understanding of the pathogenicity as well as preventative and treatment options of RTIs.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adult / Adults / Australia / Australia - epidemiology / Bacterial pneumonia / Comorbidity / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - epidemiology / Demographic aspects / Diagnosis / Distribution / Epidemiology / Forecasts and trends / Humans / Identification and classification / Infant / Infectious Diseases / Influenza / Intensive care / Internal Medicine / Medical Microbiology / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mortality / Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction / Palivizumab / Parasitology / Pathogenic microorganisms / Pneumonia / Polymerase chain reaction / Respiratory syncytial virus / Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Respiratory System / Respiratory tract / Respiratory Tract Infections / Retrospective Studies / Seasonal distribution of respiratory pathogens / Seasons / Tropical Medicine / Viral trends / Viruses / World health