RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS IS AN IMPORTANT CAUSE OF COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED LOWER RESPIRATORY-INFECTION AMONG HOSPITALIZED ADULTS

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the most important cause of lower r espiratory disease in infants and young children, is rarely considered among the causes for community-acquired lower respiratory infection i n adults. All noninstitutionalized adults hospitalized with community- acquired pneumonia in two Ohio counties were evaluated between Decembe r 1990 and May 1992. Fifty-three (4.4%) of 1195 adults admitted during the RSV seasons and 4 (1.0%) of 390 in the off-season had serologic e vidence of RSV infection, making RSV one of the four most common patho gens identified, RSV-infected patients had clinical features (e.g., wh eezing and rhonchi) that distinguished them from all non-RSV-infected patients and other features (e.g., nonelevated white blood cell counts ) that distinguished them from those infected with bacterial or atypic al agents, However, RSV infection was not diagnosed during hospitaliza tion for any of the 57 RSV-infected patients. RSV should be considered in the differential diagnosis for adults hospitalized between Novembe r and April with community-acquired lower respiratory infection.