Surveillance of acute respiratory infections among outpatients: A pilot study in Isfahan city

Background: Considering that there was not any regional survey in Isfahan, Iran regarding the epidemiology of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) in different age groups of general population, the aim of this study was to determine the epidemiologic feature of ARTIs in Isfahan using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients aged <80 years with symptoms of ARTI were studied, during 2009-2010 Nasopharyngeal and dry throat swab specimens were collected and pathogens of ARTI was determined using multiplex real-time PCR. Results: In this study, 455 cases with ARTI were studied. Mean age of studied population was 29.9 ± 18.5 (range: 0.2-80). Symptoms such as sore throat (86.3%), coryza (68.0%) and dry cough (54.3%) were the most common symptoms in all studied groups, whereas fever was the most clinical presentation of younger patients (<15 years old) and headache and skeletal pain were the most common symptoms of older patients (>15 years old). Rhinovirus was the most common cause of ARTI in patients aged <5 years and those aged >50 years. Influenza virus B was the most common cause of ARTI in patients aged 5-50 years. Conclusion: Our study provides baseline information on the epidemiologic and clinical feature of outpatients with ARTIs in Isfahan city. Though our findings in this pilot study could be helpful in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of ARTI, planning preventive interventional.