Respiratory Virus Infections in Acutely Hospitalized Adult Patients With Pulmonary and Extrapulmonary Complications

Respiratory virus infections are one of the major causes of hospitalizations, and outbreaks of respiratory virus infection have led to severe economic loss. In addition to pulmonary complications, respiratory viruses can also lead to non-pulmonary complications. However, many previous studies on the complications of respiratory viruses are retrospective in nature, and therefore many patients with respiratory virus infection may not be tested. Furthermore, these studies did not take into account that respiratory viruses can be found in some asymptomatic individuals. The aim of this study is to capture the burden of respiratory viruses in patients with acute pulmonary and extrapulmonary complications. We will recruit patients admitted to our hospital with acute coronary syndrome, stroke and exacerbation of underlying lung diseases. We will collect saliva from these patients and test for respiratory viruses. As controls, we will recruit asymptomatic patients at the out-patient clinic for follow up of chronic heart, lung or neurological diseases. We anticipate that this study will greatly enhance our understanding of the epidemiology of respiratory viruses in acutely hospitalized patients. Our findings will be important for clinicians, public health practitioners and scientists.