ABSTRACT Acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) is a leading cause of hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality throughout the world. In this retrospective study, our aim is to detect viruses in the upper respiratory samples of hospitalised patients by real-time (RT) PCR. Nasopharyngeal swab sample results from the hospitalised patients with respiratory infection symptoms between April 2018 and March 2020 were analysed. We used FTD respiratory pathogens 33 (Fast-track Diagnostics, Malta) kit between April 2018-December 2019 and QIAStat Dx Respiratory panel (Qiagen, Germany) for detection of respiratory viruses between January 2020 and March 2020. There were 693 (55.7%) male and 552 (44.3%) female patients between 0-93 years with a mean age of 18.2 years and 752 (60.4%) samples were positive for viruses. Rhinovirus/enterovirus (n = 268, 21.5%), influenza (n = 190, 15.3%), human corona virus (n = 142, 11.4%), respiratory syncytial virus (n = 115, 9.2%) and parainfluenza virus (n = 81, 6.5%) were the most common viruses. Most of the respiratory viruses including influenza, rhinovirus/ enterovirus and respiratory syncytial virus have a seasonality from December to March. Although rhinovirus/enterovirus and respiratory syncytial viruses were common in the pediatric group, influenza A/B was predominant in the adult group. In the 2019-2020 season, H1N1 pig lineage was detected in 77 (85.4%) of 82 influenza A viruses. Rhinovirus was also the commonest virus in viral co-infections. For specific antiviral treatment and avoiding unnecessary antibiotic usage, rapid diagnosis of viruses and especially influenza by multiplex PCR is important.
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