World Health Organization Influenza-Like Illness Underestimates the Burden of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) surveillance is heavily dependent on the influenza-like illness (ILI) case definition from the World Health Organization (WHO). Because ILI includes fever in its syndromic case definition, its ability to accurately identify acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) caused by RSV in older adults is uncertain.

Methods

The accuracy of the WHO ILI and a modified ILI (requiring only self-reported fever) case definitions in identifying patients with PCR-confirmed RSV-ARTI was evaluated in community-dwelling older adults (≥60 years) from the prospective European RESCEU cohort study.

Results

Among 1040 participants, 750 ARTI episodes were analyzed including 36 confirmed RSV-ARTI. Due to a general lack of fever, sensitivity for RSV-

SUBMITTER: Korsten K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9374507 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature