Prevalence of human rhinovirus infection in children with acute respiratory symptoms in Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Human rhinoviruses are positive-strand RNA, non-enveloped virus detected mostly in the early phase of infection showing symptoms in children experiencing mild upper respiratory tract infections.

Method: In this study, 200 patients were screened for rhinovirus infection using Human Rhinovirus antigen (Rh V-Ag) Elisa Kit (MBS269914).

Results: Demographic characteristics revealed that the prevalence of rhinovirus infection in children showed 38% positivity of which 20 (10.0%) were males while 17 (8.5%) were females. Children between the ages of O-24 months have the highest prevalence of 45.9% while those older than 96 months have the least prevalence of 5.4%. No significant difference was observed between the genders and rhinovirus infection (p = 0.622). A total of 54.0%, 2. 7%, 29.7% and 13.5% of the children attend daycare, creche, nursery and primary school respectively. A total of 140 (70%) in the urban recorded a positivity value of 11.0% and 59.0% negativity as against 60 (30%) who lived in the rural area with a value of 7.5% positivity and 22.5% negativity. Forty (20.0%) of the tested subjects had genotype AA out of which 6 (3.0%) was positive for rhinovirus infection, the remaining 34  (17.0%) were negative for the rhinovirus infection.

Conclusion: This study established the detection of rhinovirus infection in children attending the pediatrics clinic in florin. This may become useful for diagnosing respiratory illness in high-risk populations with immune compromised individuals.

Keywords: Rhinovirus, ELISA, prevalence, risk factors, Human Rh V-Ag, florin