Respiratory virus detection in the upper respiratory tract of asymptomatic, community-dwelling older people

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of virus positivity in the upper respiratory tract of asymptomatic community-dwelling older people remains elusive. Our objective was to investigate the prevalence of respiratory virus PCR positivity in asymptomatic community-dwelling older people using saliva samples and nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs. Methods: We analyzed 504 community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 65 years who were ambulatory and enrolled in a cross-sectional study conducted from February to December 2018 in Nagasaki city, Japan. Fourteen respiratory viruses were identified in saliva, nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal samples using multiplex PCR assays. Results: The prevalences of PCR positivity for rhinovirus, influenza A, enterovirus and any respiratory virus were 12.9% (95% CI: 10.1–16.1%), 7.1% (95% CI: 5.1–9.8%), 6.9% (95% CI: 4.9–9.5%) and 25.2% (95% CI: 21.5–29.2%), respectively. Rhinovirus was detected in 21.5% of subjects, influenza A in 38.9% of subjects, enterovirus in 51.4% of subjects and any virus in 32.3% of subjects using only saliva sampling. Conclusions: The prevalences of several respiratory viruses were higher than the percentages reported previously in pharyngeal samples from younger adults. Saliva sampling is a potentially useful method for respiratory virus detection in asymptomatic populations.