Direct Immunofluorescence Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus among Egyptian Infants under Two Years of Age with Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection

Aim of the Work: evaluation of direct fluorescent assay (DFA) in the detection of RSV in nasopharyngeal secretions of infants with acute LRT infections and revealing the rate of RSV infection in these patients.

Patients and Methods: This study included 100 infants less than two years of age who diagnosed as cases of acute LRT infections During the 6 month study period, from October 2013 till April 2014. Cases were presented as an outpatient clinic and/or were hospitalized in the pediatric hospital of Tanta University.

Results: 20% of infants included in the study were positive for RSV by DFA. The results revealed a significant relationship between RSV infections and younger ages with mean age 3.5 months. The incidence of RSV infection was also significantly increased with bronchiolitis, wheezy chest, congenital heart disease, prematurity, family history of asthma and winter season. Conversely, there was an insignificant relationship between RSV infection and type of feeding and antibiotics consumption.

Conclusion: So, DFA can be used as an effective tool in screening large numbers of cases for rapid diagnosis of RSV infection. This can help in early treatment with specific anti-viral and avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics, where most of cases are treated as bacterial infections.