Table 2.
Results of the PCR performed in nasopharyngeal swabs for virus identification in the infants hospitalised in paediatric general wards for acute bronchiolitis between 2017 and 2021
| Pre-COVID-19 | Post-COVID-19 | P value* | ||||
| 2017–2018 | 2018–2019 | 2019–2020 | 2017–2020 aggregated data |
2020–2021 | ||
| Infants, n | 479 | 451 | 417 | 1347 | 205 | |
| Nasal PCR†, n (%) | 245 (51.1) | 274 (60.7) | 281 (67.4) | 800 (59.4) | 167 (74.2) | <0.01 |
| Respiratory syncytial virus | 193 (78) | 202 (73) | 211 (75) | 606 (75) | 120 (71) | 0.3 |
| Rhinovirus | 41 (17) | 65 (24) | 63 (22) | 169 (12) | 44 (21) | 0.1 |
| Adenovirus | 17 (7) | 10 (4) | 14 (5) | 16 (11) | 12 (7) | 0.3 |
| Metapneumovirus | 17 (7) | 10 (4) | 10 (4) | 37 (2.7) | 19 (11) | 0.001 |
| Influenzae A | 0 (0) | 2 (0.4) | 1 (0.2) | 3 (0.2) | 0 (0) | 0.4 |
| Influenzae B | 0 (0) | 2 (0.7) | 1 (0.3) | 3 (0.2) | 0 (0) | 0.4 |
| Parainfluenzae 3 | 9 (4) | 6 (2) | 10 (4) | 27 (2) | 16 (10) | <0.01 |
| Bocavirus | 6 (2) | 11 (4) | 7 (2) | 24 (1.7) | 14 (8) | 0.001 |
| SARS-CoV-2 | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 3 (2) | 0.02 |
| Coronavirus NL63 | 2 (0.8) | 5 (2) | 3 (1) | 10 (0.7) | 9 (5) | <0.01 |
| Coronavirus OC43 | 0 (0) | 1 (0.3) | 2 (0.7) | 3 (0.2) | 7 (4) | <0.01 |
| No PCR, n (%) | 234 (48.8) | 177 (39) | 136 (32) | 547 (40) | 38 (18) | <0.01 |
*P value for the comparison between pre-COVID-19 aggregated data and COVID-19 data using χ2 test.
†Virus identifications by PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs or aspirates were performed by means of Allplex Respiratory Panel Assays (Seegene) and/or Simplexa Flu A/B & RSV Direct Gen II Kit (Diasorin Molecular).