Aetiology of Acute Respiratory Infections in Children under Five Years in Nakuru, Kenya

Abstract

introduction: Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) is the most common causes of both illness and mortality. Objectives: This study aimed to identify the aetiology of acute respiratory illnesses in subjects from selected health facilities in Nakuru Country in Kenya. Method: This was a case control study which recruited parents or guardians with children less than 5 years of age who visited the selected health facilities with suspected ARI. Controls were matched for age and sex. Throat and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the children to isolation and detection of bacterial and viral agents respectively. A questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic information from the study subjects. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors associated with ARI agents. Results: Bacteria were isolated in 24% of sampled patients with Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus viridans, being the most predominant. At least one ARI respiratory associated virus in 44.9% of the specimen collected from the children with Influenza A (20.5%), RSV (16.7%) and Influenza B (10.3%) being more common. Mixed infections were present in 29.4% of the sampled children. The clinical predictors of bacterial isolation were fever, high respiratory rate, cough and stridor while high respiratory rate and cough were more associated with viral detection. Conclusion: The study revealed that influenza viruses and Streptococcus pyogenes are the major viral and bacterial etiologies of ARI, respectively, in this study population. Mixed infections are also common among the study subjects. Keywords