Molecular detection of respiratory syncytial virus in children attending selected hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

A serological survey was carried out among children in two hospitals within Kaduna, Kaduna state to determine the level of Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) IgM antibodies. Blood samples and nasal swabs of children aged 0-60 months were collected in two hospitals in Kaduna metropolis (Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital and Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital), Kaduna state. Respiratory Syncytial Virus IgM antibody level was measured using commercial ELISA kit obtained from DEMEDITEC DIAGNOSTIC GMBH Germany. The overall prevalence of RSV out of 192 samples of both blood and nasal swab samples collected 56.1 % positive for all the samples from both hospitals. Barau Dikko positive samples recorded 26.0 % and Yusuf Dantsoho 30.0 % as shown in figure 1. More so, the distribution of RSV with regards to socio-demographic characteristics, males had a higher predominance 31.0 % than females 26.0 % but the result was not statistically significant (p value= 0.285). Infants under one month had the highest prevalence rate of 75 % while 31-61 months had the least prevalence rate of 11.0 %. The difference was statistically significant (p value= 0.001). Respiratory syncytial virus RSV-G gene was detected among IgM seropositive children using a molecular analysis. Conclusively, Polymerase chain reaction on agarose gel electrophoresis verified the molecular characteristics of the RSV-G gene, which showed a typical band size of 326bp.