ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pediatr.

Sec. Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1577913

This article is part of the Research TopicMethods In Pediatric Infectious Diseases 2024View all 9 articles

Clinical relevance of bacterial and/or viral coinfection in acute bronchiolitis in an Italian neonatal unit during the 2021-2023 seasons

Provisionally accepted
Venere CortazzoVenere CortazzoMarilena AgostaMarilena AgostaDomenico Umberto De RoseDomenico Umberto De Rose*Valeria FoxValeria FoxVelia Chiara Di MaioVelia Chiara Di MaioGIANLUCA VRENNAGIANLUCA VRENNAMartina RossittoMartina RossittoBarbara LucignanoBarbara LucignanoStefania RannoStefania RannoAnnamaria SistoAnnamaria SistoCristina RussoCristina RussoAnnabella BragugliaAnnabella BragugliaRonchetti Maria PaolaRonchetti Maria PaolaANDREA DOTTAANDREA DOTTACarlo Federico PernoCarlo Federico PernoPaola BernaschiPaola Bernaschi
  • Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IRCCS), Rome, Italy

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Background: Acute bronchiolitis is a leading cause of hospitalization in young children worldwide,and literature reports conflicting data regarding the role of coinfections.Objective: To evaluate the possible clinical relevance of bacterial and/or viral respiratory coinfectionin a cohort of newborns/infants hospitalized for bronchiolitis.Methods: Neonates and infants younger than three months admitted to neonatal units from October2021 to March 2023 because of acute bronchiolitis were included in this retrospective study. Analyses were performed with Stata 11.1 (p<0.05). Data were summarized as medians (IQR) or counts (%). Appropriate tests were used based on data type and distribution, with Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple comparisons. ORs were unadjusted.Results: In a cohort of 240 patients, respiratory coinfection was associated with a longer hospital stay(p<0.001) and the need for invasive mechanical ventilation (p<0.001) compared to viralmono-infection, highlighting a potential role in patient outcome. Moreover, we observed thatpremature patients are more likely to contract a respiratory coinfection than a viral mono-infection(p=0.011).Conclusion: Coinfections increased the clinical severity of bronchiolitis more than simple viral mono-infection in our cohort, contributing to a longer hospital stay and the need for invasive mechanicalventilation.

Keywords: newborns, Bronchiolitis, Respiratory Infections, coinfections, infants, viral monoinfection, RSV, Rhinovirus

Received: 16 Feb 2025; Accepted: 23 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Cortazzo, Agosta, De Rose, Fox, Di Maio, VRENNA, Rossitto, Lucignano, Ranno, Sisto, Russo, Braguglia, Maria Paola, DOTTA, Perno and Bernaschi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Domenico Umberto De Rose, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IRCCS), Rome, Italy

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