Methods: From June 15, 2017 to May 14, 2018, we collected nasopharyngeal swabs from 600 patients of all ages older than 1 month hospitalized with pneumonia at Sibu and Kapit Hospitals. Specimens were examined at our collaborating institutions with a panel of molecular assays for viral pathogens including influenza A (IAV), IBV, ICV, and IDV, human adenovirus (AdV), human enterovirus (EV), human coronavirus (CoV), respiratory syncytial virus subtype A (RSV-A) or RSV-B, and parainfluenza virus (PIV) types 1-4.
Results: Of 599 samples examined, 288 (48%) had molecular evidence of 1 or more respiratory viruses. Overall, the most prevalent virus detected was RSV-A (14.2%) followed by AdV (10.4%) and IAV (10.4%), then RSV-B (6.2%), EV (4.2%), IBV (2.2%), PIV-3 (1.7%), CoV (1.0%), PIV-1 (1.0%), PIV-4 (0.7%), and PIV-2 (0.2%). No specimens were confirmed positive for ICV or IDV.
Conclusions: The high prevalence of viruses detected in this study suggest that respiratory viruses may be responsible for considerable morbidity in equatorial regions such as Sarawak. Access to viral diagnostics are very necessary for medical staff to determine appropriate pneumonia treatments.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to assess the role of Granulocyte Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor (GMCSF) in asthmatic airway hyper-responsiveness associated with RSV infections.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty five asthmatic cases and 45 healthy individuals were studied in a cross-sectional design. All asthmatics underwent symptom score assessment.GMCSF concentrations in sputum and RSV-IgM/IgG in serum samples were measured for all participants by Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA).
RESULTS: The GM-CSF concentration level was significantly higher in asthmatics (270.27± 194.87pg/mL) especially among moderate and severe disease with mean concentration of 197.33±98.47 and 521.08± 310.04 respectively, compared to healthy controls (22.20±21.27 pg/ mL) (p =0.0001). The sputum level of GM-CSF in asthmatics is highly significant associated with positive anti-RSV IgG sera which represents 35/45(77.8%) with mean GM-CSF concentration of (276.99± 86.42) compared with controls at about 31/45 (68.9%) with GM-CSF mean concentration of (22.84±23.47). On the other hand, positive anti-RSV IgM in asthma cases was 8 out of 45(17.8 %) with GM-CSF mean concentration of (307.25± 306.65). Furthermore, GM-CSF sputum level was significantly correlated with eosinophil count especially in moderate and severe asthma.
CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that GM-CSF level is associated with eosinophilia and indicates asthma severity that might be evident during RSV infection .The distinctive GM-CSF features observed in the sputum from asthmatics with RSV may be useful as a diagnostic methods to help match patients with antibody therapy.