Abstract
Acute respiratory tract infections in children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) are known to cause exacerbation of disease; viral infections are reported as the most frequent underlying cause. The newborn screening for CF allows early diagnosis and opens new opportunities in preventative and therapeutic approaches. Before this can be done, a better understanding of respiratory health and viral colonization during infancy is needed.
31 infants with CF from the Swiss Cystic Fibrosis Infant Lung Development Cohort and 32 unselected, healthy infants from the Basel Bern Infant Lung Development Cohort were included in this prospective longitudinal study within the first year of life. In weekly telephone interviews respiratory symptoms were recorded. Biweekly nasal swabs were analyzed for 12 different viruses with Multiplex PCR (CF = 576, controls = 718).
While viral colonization in general did not differ between the two groups (mean 42% vs. 43%), respiratory symptoms during infections were significantly less frequent in infants with CF (38% vs. 49%; OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.41 – 0.93; p = 0.022). This finding was pronounced for symptomatic infection with Human Rhinovirus (6% vs. 10%; OR 0.49; 95% CI 0.26– 0.95; p = 0.035), whereas colonization with Bocavirus occurred more frequent in infants with CF (10% vs. 3%; OR = 2.55; 95% CI 1.22 – 5.34; p = 0.013).
Surprisingly, in this study, viral colonization was not more frequent in infants with CF. Respiratory symptoms during virus infection occurred even less often in infants with CF. While we can only speculate about underlying reasons, our findings indicate a less important role of viruses in early CF lung disease compared to older patients with CF.
- Copyright ©the authors 2016