Respiratory tract virus infections in the elderly with pneumonia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In children suffering from severe lower airway illnesses, respiratory virus detection has given good prognostic information, but such reports in the elderly are scarce. Therefore, our aim was to study whether the detection of nasopharyngeal viral pathogens and conventional inflammatory markers in the frail elderly correlate to the presence, signs and symptoms or prognosis of radiographically-verified pneumonia.

Methods

Consecutive episodes of hospital care of patients 65 years and older with respiratory symptoms (N = 382) were prospectively studied as a cohort. Standard clinical questionnaire was filled by the study physician. Laboratory analyses included PCR diagnostics of nasopharyngeal swab samples for 14 respiratory viruses, C-reactive protein (CRP) and white

SUBMITTER: Aronen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6469155 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature