Retrospective Evaluation of the Frequency of Respiratory Pathogens in Patients Admitted to Kafkas University Medical Faculty Hospital

Objectives: This retrospective study was aimed to identify upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) pathogens in patients admitted to Kafkas University Medical Faculty Hospital between July 2023 and August 2024. Methods: Nasopharyngeal swab samples from 1565 patients were analysed using the Multiplex Real-Time PCR (MRT-PCR) technique. Patient demographics, the month/season of hospital visits, and results of the respiratory agent tests were obtained from hospital archives and subjected to necessary statistical analyses. Chi-square and One-way ANOVA tests were used to analyse categorical and numerical data, respectively by SPSS v21.0. Results: The data showed that 37.7% of the patients tested positive for at least one pathogen, while 62.3% were negative. The most frequently detected viral agents were Influenza B (34.3%), Influenza A (15.7%), and SARS-CoV-2 (14.4%). Streptococcus pyogenes was the most common bacterial pathogen (9.3%). Co-infection was observed in 9.14% of cases, with the most common combination being INF-B and INF-A. The seasonal distribution indicated that 40.3% of the positive cases occurred in the winter months (December 2023 - February 2024), and 39.1% in the spring (March - May 2024). Conclusion: This retrospective study provides important epidemiological data on the identification and distribution of URTI pathogens in the region, contributing to the development of accurate approaches for diagnosis and treatment of infections.