en ویروس شناسی پزشکی Medical Virology مقاله پژوهشی Original Research Article <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:16px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><b><span style="background:#1f497d"><span style="color:white"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Background and Aim:</span></span></span></b> <span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">Children under five years pose an increased risk of respiratory illnesses all over the world. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study sought to ascertain the seasonal patterns, demographic relationships, and prevalence of respiratory infections in this susceptible group</span></span><span style="color:black">.</span><br> <b><span style="background:#1f497d"><span style="color:white"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Materials and Methods:</span></span></span></b> <span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">In this cross-sectional study 927 samples were collected from children younger than five years old with respiratory illnesses from the North Indian Hospital between February 2022 and December 2023. The nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) Swab samples were exposed to PCR analysis. Clinical, environmental, and demographic data were collected through interviews and medical records. GraphPad Prism and the chi-square test were used for the comparisons and statistical analysis</span></span><span style="color:black">. </span><br> <b><span style="background:#1f497d"><span style="color:white"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Results:</span></span></span></b> <span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">The respiratory samples included 234 mono-infections and 27 co-infections, and males made up a higher proportion of cases than females. Lack of exclusive breastfeeding was linked to 71 mono-infections and 9 co-infections, whereas low birth weight was linked to 13 mono-infections and 21 co-infections. Higher infection rates were associated with environmental factors, including crowded houses and exposure to indoor air pollution (<i>P</i>=0.06; <i>P</i>=0.003). Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was the most prevalent among the pathogens. The remaining 34 cases were co-infections. The most common combinations were RSV with rhinovirus, and rhinovirus with <i>Haemophilus influenzae</i></span></span><span style="color:black">.</span><br> <b><span style="background:#1f497d"><span style="color:white"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Conclusion:</span></span></span></b> <span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">Understanding the effects of respiratory illnesses on children after a pandemic necessitates considering a number of risk variables. These results highlight the significance of addressing socio-environmental parameters and implementing the comprehensive disease prevention and management strategies for the respiratory health of children</span></span><span style="color:black">.</span></span></span></p> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:22px"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:24px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman", serif"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> Acute respiratory infection, COVID-19, Non-pharmacological Interventions, RSV, Seasonality 308 318 http://ijmm.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-2573-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Pooja Pandey pooja_kmc20@yahoo.co.in 100319475328460030043 100319475328460030043 No Department of Microbiology, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, India Priti Agarwal drpritiagarwal2@gmail.com 100319475328460030044 100319475328460030044 No Department of Microbiology, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, India Arundhati Biswas arn.bsws@gmail.com 100319475328460030045 100319475328460030045 No Department of Paediatrics, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, India Rajiv M. Gupta rmgafmc@yahoo.com 100319475328460030046 100319475328460030046 No Department of Microbiology, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, India Anil K. Pandey drpandeyak@yahoo.co.in 100319475328460030047 100319475328460030047 No Medical Superintendent, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, India Asim Das dean-faridabad@esic.nic.in 100319475328460030048 100319475328460030048 No Dean, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, India Aparna Pandey draparna29@gmail.com 100319475328460030049 100319475328460030049 Yes Department of Microbiology, World College of Medical Sciences & Hospital, Jhajjar, India