The biennial cycle of respiratory syncytial virus outbreaks in Croatia

The paper analyses the epidemic pattern of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreaks in children in Croatia. Over a period of 11 consecutive winter seasons (1994–2005) 3,435 inpatients from Zagreb County aged from infancy to 10 years who were hospitalised with acute respiratory tract infections were tested for RSV-infection. RSV was identified in nasopharyngeal secretions of patients by virus isolation in cell culture and by detection of viral antigen with monoclonal antibodies.In the Zagreb area, RSV outbreaks were proven to vary in a two-year cycle, which was repeated every 23–25 months. This biennial cycle comprised one larger and one smaller season. Climate factors correlated significantly with the number of RSV cases identified only in the large seasons, which suggests that the biennial cycle is likely to continue regardless of meteorological conditions. Knowledge of this biennial pattern should be useful in predicting the onset of RSV outbreaks in Croatia, and would facilitate planning for the prevention and control of RSV infections in the region.

[1]  M. Arcangeletti,et al.  Four year incidence of respiratory syncytial virus infection in infants and young children referred to emergency departments for lower respiratory tract diseases in Italy: the "Osservatorio VRS" Study (2000-2004). , 2006, The new microbiologica.

[2]  J. Bozikov,et al.  Respiratory syncytial virus infections in SR croatia, Yugoslavia , 1987, Pediatric pulmonology.

[3]  F. Freymuth,et al.  Epidemiology and clinical presentation of respiratory syncytial virus infection in a Tunisian neonatal unit from 2000 to 2002 , 2004, Annals of tropical paediatrics.

[4]  G. Rossi,et al.  Incidence of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Positivity in Young Italian Children Referred to the Emergency Departments for Lower Respiratory Tract Infection over Two Consecutive Epidemic Seasons , 2005, Infection.

[5]  J S Nguyen-Van-Tam,et al.  Timing of monoclonal antibody for seasonal RSV prophylaxis in the United Kingdom , 2006, Epidemiology and Infection.

[6]  P. Cane,et al.  Antigenic and genomic diversity of central European respiratory syncytial virus strains , 1998, Archives of Virology.

[7]  S. Lapeña,et al.  Climatic factors and lower respiratory tract infection due to respiratory syncytial virus in hospitalised infants in northern Spain , 2004, European Journal of Epidemiology.

[8]  Martin Enders,et al.  Defining the timing of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreaks: an epidemiological study , 2005, BMC infectious diseases.

[9]  R. Welliver,et al.  The relationship of meteorological conditions to the epidemic activity of respiratory syncytial virus. , 2009, Paediatric respiratory reviews.

[10]  E. Roilides,et al.  Burden of Respiratory Syncytial Viral Infections on Paediatric Hospitals: A Two-Year Prospective Epidemiological Study , 2002, European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.