Al-Romaihi HE, Smatti MK, Al-Khatib HA, Coyle PV, Ganesan N, Ahmed SN, Farag EA, Thani AAA, Khal AA, Ansari KMA, Maslamani MAA, Yassine HM
Summary
This paper describes the results of a retrospective health record study conducted in Qatar analysing the records of paediatric cases of Influenza like infectious diseases between 2012 and 2017. This study supplements the relatively limited data on the prevelence of respiratory infections in the gulf states up to this point.
Interestingly a higher burden of RSV relative to Influenza was observed in the lowest age groups analyzed in the study, with the burden of influenza increasing in older age groups, further highlighting the increased burden of RSV in lower age groups. Overall rates of RSV (19.7%) compared to Influenza (18.5%) were observed across the entire study, with the most prevelent pathogen in children experiencing a respiratory infection being Rhinovirus (24%). Pathogen prevelence rates also varied significantly between male and females.
These results further develop our understanding of RSV in the region, and provide interesting data on the relative prevelences of pathogens from year to year.
Full article on PubMed.