[Analysis of respiratory syncytial virus diseases in hospitalized children in the district of Steyr 1984/85].

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most frequent cause of serious respiratory tract infections in infancy. In the course of a one-year study the nasopharyngeal secretions of all hospitalized children with diseases of the lower respiratory tract (almost exclusively infants) were examined for viral antigens. RSV antigen could be detected in 34 of the 71 secretions. In these infants a serious clinical course, pneumonia, bronchiolitis or obstructive bronchitis was dominant, but laboratory tests showed no characteristic pattern. Pulmonary X-rays of the RSV-infected infants revealed interstitial pneumonia with or without pulmonary infiltration, in addition to symptoms of hyperinflation. We were able to examine 21 of 33 RSV-infected infants 2 years later.