Background This study aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics of six common respiratory pathogens in children admitted to Chengdu Women's and Children's Central Hospital. Methods A total of children with respiratory tract infection symptoms, including fever, cough, and headache, who were admitted to the hospital from September 2022 to December 2024 were enrolled in this study. Multiplex reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the six respiratory pathogens and analyze their epidemiological characteristics. Results Among the 64,500 included children, 34,505 (53.50%) tested positive for respiratory pathogens. Human rhinovirus (HRV) had the highest positive rate of 18.67% (12,042/64,500), followed by Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) with a positive rate of 14.93% (9,632/64,500). The study population consisted of 36,020 males and 28,480 females, with positive rates of 53.91% (19,417/36,020) and 52.98% (15,088/28,480), respectively. The overall positive rate showed an increasing trend with age: the highest positive rate (63.61%) was found in children aged ≥6 years, while the lowest (37.01%) was observed in infants aged 1 year. Significant seasonal variations were noted in the detection rates of the six pathogens, with the highest rate in winter and the lowest in summer. Pneumonia was the most common clinical manifestation of respiratory infections associated with these pathogens. Conclusions In the post-epidemic era, children remain susceptible to infection by various respiratory pathogens. Therefore, continuous epidemiological analysis and activity surveillance of respiratory pathogens can provide a scientific basis for early clinical diagnosis, promotion of rational drug use, and development of effective prevention and control strategies.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.