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An Improved and High Throughput Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Micro-neutralization Assay
Published on: January 26, 2019
Challenges to evaluating respiratory syncytial virus mortality in Bangladesh, 2004-2008
Lauren J Stockman1, W Abdullah Brooks, Peter K Streatfield
1National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. lstockman@cdc.gov
Insights
Global childhood respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) mortality data are limited. This study found no significant correlation between respiratory virus detections and child deaths in Bangladesh, highlighting data collection challenges.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric infectious diseases
- Epidemiology
- Virology
Background:
- Acute lower respiratory illness is a leading cause of global childhood mortality.
- Specific mortality data for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children are lacking worldwide.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between respiratory virus detections and child mortality in Bangladesh.
- To assess the correlation between RSV and other respiratory virus surveillance and community respiratory deaths.
Main Methods:
- Respiratory samples from children under 5 were tested for RSV, HMPV, PIV, influenza, and adenovirus via RT-PCR from 2004-2008.
- Verbal autopsy data identified child deaths from respiratory illness in a rural community.
- Spearman's coefficient assessed the correlation between virus detections and mortality.
Main Results:
- RSV activity showed defined periods but no clear seasonal pattern.
- No significant correlation was found between respiratory deaths and the detection of any studied respiratory viruses.
- Virus activity did not align with mortality patterns in the observed communities.
Conclusions:
- Outbreaks of respiratory viruses may not be directly associated with child deaths at the study site.
- Limited respiratory deaths and varied outbreak timing may obscure potential associations.
- Accurate assessment requires synchronized detection and mortality data from the same location and larger populations.
Background:
Acute lower respiratory illness is the most common cause of death among children, globally. Data are not available to make accurate estimates on the global mortality from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), specifically.
Methods:
Respiratory samples collected from children under 5 years of age during 2004 to 2008 as part of population-based respiratory disease surveillance in an urban community in Dhaka, Bangladesh were tested for RSV, human metapneumovirus (HMPV), human parainfluenza virus (PIV) types 1, 2, and 3, influenza and adenovirus by RT-PCR. Verbal autopsy data were used to identify children who died from respiratory illness in a nearby rural community. Significance of the correlation between detections and community respiratory deaths was determined using Spearman's coefficient.
Results:
RSV activity occurred during defined periods lasting approximately three months but with no clear seasonal pattern. There was no significant correlation between respiratory deaths and detection of any of the respiratory viruses studied.
Conclusion:
Outbreaks of respiratory viruses may not be associated with deaths in children in the study site; however, the few respiratory deaths observed and community-to-community variation in the timing of outbreaks may have obscured an association. An accurate assessment of respiratory virus-associated deaths will require detections and death data to come from the same location and a larger study population.
