Dual respiratory virus detection in adult patients with acute respiratory illness

Abstract

Background Nonrandom multiple respiratory virus (RV) detection provides evidence for viral interference among respiratory viruses. However, little is known as to whether it occurs randomly. Methods The prevalence of dual RV detection (DRVD) in patients with acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs) at 4 academic medical centers was investigated; data about the prevalence of 8 RVs were collected from the Korean national RV surveillance dataset. Linear regression analysis was performed to assess the correlation between observed and estimated prevalence of each type of DRVD. Results In total, 108 patients with ARIs showing DRVD were included in this study between 2011 and 2017. In several types of regression analysis, a strong correlation was observed between the observed and estimated prevalence of each type of DRVD. Excluding three DRVD types (influenza/picornavirus, influenza/human metapneumovirus, and adenovirus/respiratory syncytial virus), the slope of the regression line was higher than that of the line of random occurrence (1.231 > 1.000) and the 95% confidence interval of the regression line was located above the line of random occurrence. Conclusions Contrary to the results of previous epidemiologic studies, most types of DRVD occur more frequently than expected from the prevalence rates of individual RV, except for three underrepresented pairs above.