Molecular identification of respiratory viruses in Itapúa, Paraguay during the year 2023

Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) constitute an important health problem, since they are one of the first causes of medical attention worldwide, both in outpatient and inpatient consultations, and are among the first causes of mortality. The objective was to detect and identify viral agents causing ARI by molecular techniques in respiratory samples processed at the Molecular Biology laboratory of the Regional Hospital of Encarnación (HRE), Itapúa. A descriptive, cross-sectional, and quantitative study was conducted on 394 respiratory samples collected from April to August 2023, applying a multiplex panel by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) panel. We analyzed variables such as sex, age, district of origin, clinical manifestations, Influenza-like Illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and detected viral pathogen. Viruses were detected in 55.08% of samples. The most frequent viruses were Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) (53.92%) and Rhinovirus (RV) (23.96%). The majority of patients with Viral Respiratory Infections (VRI) were children under 2 years of age (49.31%). RSV predominated in May and June in patients hospitalized for SARI (64.06%) and the districts with the highest frequency of VRI were Encarnación and Cambyreta (59.91% and 17.05%, respectively). RSV was the main cause of hospitalization for SARI in children under two years of age in Itapúa during May and June, highlighting the importance of prioritizing at-risk children and expanding studies to other etiologies.