Acute respiratory infections in children: prospective study on 109 cases at the University Hospital of Dakar, Senegal

The main objective of this study was to focus on the microbiological aspects of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in children in Senegalese hospitals The hospital frequency of acute respiratory infections in children was 3 7% The average age was 23 7 months with extremes between 1 month and 144 months Peaks of consultations were found in August, March and April with 22%, 15 6%, and 12 8% respectively Fever, respiratory distress and pulmonary condensation syndrome were the main signs found on examination in our patients Bacteriology was positive in 82 6% of the samples and the most frequently found bacteria were: Streptococcus pneumoniae in 38 5%, Haemophilus influenza b in 32 1% and Moraxella catarrhalis in 25 7% Virological tests were positive in 80 7% The viruses most frequently found in the samples were Rhinovirus in 33% of the samples, Human respiratory syncytial virus in 24 8% and coronavirus in 15 6% On mycological examination, only 4 samples out of 109 were positive, i e 3 7% The only fungi found was Pneumocystis with its two serotypes Pneumocystis jirovecii and Pneumocystis pneumonia in equal proportions Among the diagnoses retained, pneumonia was predominant and found in 61 of the cases, with a prevalence of 59 9%, followed by acute bronchiolitis with a prevalence of 16 51% The average length of hospitalization was 10 days Lethality was 1 8% or 2 cases Acute respiratory infections in children still remain a public health problem in developing countries, with children under 5 years of age being the most affected, hence the need to strengthen programs to combat ARI