Etiological Profile of Hospitalized Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Lower respiratory infections remain one of the top global causes of death. The application of molecular diagnostic methods (e.g., reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction {RT-PCR} panels) for the diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) improves the understanding of respiratory pathogen epidemiology of these diseases and helps in the early detection of causative agents and formulating infection control measures and management. Methods In this study, consecutive nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab, sputum, tracheal aspirate, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples collected from patients having respiratory symptoms were tested using RT-PCR. Results Out of 372 samples, respiratory pathogens were detected in 245 (65.86%) cases. The total number of viral isolates detected in this study was 235, including the viral co-infections and viral and bacterial mixed infections, out of which SARS-CoV-2 was most common (115, 48.94%), followed by influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (82, 34.89%), rhinovirus (17, 7.23%), adenovirus (nine, 3.83%), influenza A (eight, 3.40%), and influenza B (four, 1.70%). Conclusion The rapid detection of respiratory pathogens through molecular methods can help with targeted antiviral treatment, limit the use of antibiotics, and help in knowing the burden of the disease.