Respiratory Syncytial Virus Seasonality, Beijing, China, 2007–2015

• DOI: 10.3201/eid2506.180532
• Publication Date: 2019-04-24T11:59:04Z
• Authors: Jianxing Yu; Chunyan Liu; Yan Xiao; Zichun Xiang; Hongli Zhou; Lan Chen; Kunling Shen; Zhengde Xie; Lili Ren; Jianwei Wang
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Microbiology (medical); Adolescent; Epidemiology; respiratory syncytial virus; etiology; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; History, 21st Century; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; temporal trends; 0302 clinical medicine; Risk Factors; Humans; viruses; Child; seasonality; Research; R; Infant, Newborn; Infant; Middle Aged; 3. Good health; Hospitalization; Patient Outcome Assessment; Infectious Diseases; Beijing; Child, Preschool; Population Surveillance; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human; Medicine; epidemiology; Female; Seasons

During July 2007-June 2015, we enrolled 4,225 hospitalized children with pneumonia in a study to determine the seasonality of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in Beijing, China. We defined season as the period during which >10% of total PCRs performed each week were RSV positive. We identified 8 distinctive RSV seasons. On average, the season onset occurred at week 41 (mid-October) and lasted 33 weeks, through week 20 of the next year (mid-May); 97% of all RSV-positive cases occurred during the season. RSV seasons occurred 3-5 weeks earlier and lasted ≈6 weeks longer in RSV subgroup A-dominant years than in RSV subgroup B-dominant years. Our analysis indicates that monitoring such RSV subgroup shifts might provide better estimates for the onset of RSV transmission. PCR-based tests could be a flexible or complementary way of determining RSV seasonality in locations where RSV surveillance is less well-established, such as local hospitals throughout China.