• Bart E van Ewijk, Marieke M van der Zalm, Tom F W Wolfs, Andre Fleer, Jan L L Kimpen, Berry Wilbrink, and Cornelis K van der Ent.
• Cystic Fibrosis Centre and Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Centre Utrecht, PO Box 85090, Office KH 01.419.0, 3508 AB Utrecht, Netherlands. b.vanewijk@umcutrecht.nl
• Pediatrics. 2008 Dec 1;122(6):1171-6.

ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate differences in upper and lower respiratory tract symptoms in relation to respiratory viral infections detected with polymerase chain reaction assays in young children with cystic fibrosis and healthy control subjects.MethodsIn a 6-month winter period, 20 young children with cystic fibrosis and 18 age-matched, healthy, control subjects were contacted twice per week for detection of symptoms of an acute respiratory illness. If any symptom was present, then a home visit was made for physical examination and collection of nasopharyngeal swabs for viral analysis. In addition, parents were instructed to collect nasopharyngeal swabs every 2 weeks.ResultsChildren with cystic fibrosis and healthy control subjects had similar frequencies of acute respiratory illnesses (3.8+/-1.0 and 4.2+/-1.7 episodes, respectively). Although there were no significant differences in upper respiratory tract symptoms, the children with cystic fibrosis had longer periods of lower respiratory tract symptoms (22.4+/-22.2 vs 12.8+/-13.8 days) and a higher mean severity score per episode (2.35+/-0.64 vs 1.92+/-0.46). In addition, similar increases in upper respiratory tract symptom scores were associated with significantly greater increases in lower respiratory tract symptom scores in children with cystic fibrosis. No differences in the seasonal occurrences and distributions of respiratory viruses were observed, with picornaviruses and coronaviruses being the most prevalent.ConclusionsAlthough there were no differences in the seasonal occurrences and distributions of polymerase chain reaction-detected respiratory viruses, acute respiratory illnesses were frequently associated with increased lower respiratory tract morbidity in young children with cystic fibrosis.

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