SEASONALITY OF RESPIRATORY VIRUSES AND CLINICAL AND LABORATORY EVALUATION OF CHILDREN TREATED FOR RESPIRATORY DISEASE IN FIVE PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN THE CITY OF SÃO PAULO.

• Grant number: 25/09636-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Edison Luiz Durigon
• Grantee: Edison Luiz Durigon
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Danielle Bruna Leal de Oliveira

Abstract

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the most frequent infectious diseases in humans and respiratory viruses are the main etiological agents responsible for their occurrence. These agents are distributed worldwide and can cause a wide variety of clinical syndromes, such as upper and lower respiratory tract diseases (URTIs and LRTIs). ARIs are the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 80% of acute respiratory diseases are due to viral infections, and that more than 10 million children under the age of 5 die each year, with acute respiratory infections accounting for 19% of these deaths, approximately 2 million deaths, most of which are caused by bronchiolitis and pneumonia, usually caused or triggered by viruses. Currently, the following viruses are considered to cause acute respiratory illness in children and the elderly: Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV A and B); parainfluenza virus types 1, 2, 3 and 4 (PIV1, PIV2, PIV3 and PIV4); influenza virus types A, B (Flu-A, Flu-B); Adenovirus (AdV); coronaviruses CoV-OC43, -229E, -HKU1, -NL64 and SARS-CoV-2, human rhinovirus (RV), enterovirus (EV-68), human metapneumovirus (MPV), human Bocavirus (BoV). This project will be carried out at the Laboratory of Clinical and Molecular Virology (LVCM) at ICB-II, USP. Samples from nasopharyngeal (SNF) and oropharyngeal (SOF) swabs and nasopharyngeal aspirates (ANF) will come from pediatric patients aged between 0 and 17 years and 11 months, treated between August 2025 and July 2027 at five public hospitals in the city of São Paulo, as follows: Hospital Infantil Menino Jesus (HIMJ), Hospital da Santa Casa de Misericórdia (HSCM), Hospital Infantil Cândido Fontoura (HICF), Hospital Infantil Darcy Vargas (HIDV) and Hospital São Luiz Gonzaga (HSLG). For diagnosis, a respiratory virus panel will be used by real-time PCR using the TaqMan® Multiplex RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) technique to detect 18 respiratory viruses and by genomic sequencing we will determine the circulation and genetic variability of RSV and the variants with pandemic potential of Flu and Sars-CoV-2. In addition, this project aims to evaluate the seasonality of these respiratory viruses in pediatric patients, as well as determine the severity of the disease and mortality associated with these viruses, in addition to analyzing the excretion time of each virus, from the follow-up of each hospitalization of children and finally the clinical importance of co-detections between these viruses. (AU)