Epidemiological characteristics of respiratory pathogen infection in patients with respiratory tract infection in Tongzhou district, Beijing from 2020 to 2022

  Objective  To understand the detection of pathogens causing respiratory track infection in Tongzhou district of Beijing from 2020 to 2022 and provide reference for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of respiratory track infections and epidemic prevention and control.

  Methods  According to the inclusion criteria of respiratory tract infection cases, respiratory tract samples from 1176 patients with respiratory tract infection admitted to Beijing Luhe Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from January 2020 to December 2022 were collected. Multiple real-time PCR was used to detect nucleic acid of 29 pathogens causingrespiratory tract infection.

  Results  In the 1176 samples, 26 kinds of nucleic acid of pathogens causing respiratory infection were detected, the overall detection rate of viruses and bacteria was 34.86% (410/1176), single viral pathogen was detected in 98 samples (23.90%, 98/410), and single bacterial pathogen was in 185 samples (45.12%, 185/410), more than one pathogens were detected in 127 samples (30.98%, 127/410), including 39 virus + bacterium positive samples (9.51%, 39/410) and 88 bacterium + bacterium positive samples (21.46%, 88/410). Among different age groups, the detection rate was 30.77% in age group <5 years (24/78) , 35.59% in age group 5–17 years (42/118), 29.06% in age group 18–44 years (120/413), 36.28% in age group 45–64 years (78/215) and 41.48% in age group ≥65 years (146/352). The detection rate was 25.97% in upper respiratory tract samples (195/751) and 50.59% in lower respiratory tract samples (215/425). According to the classification of sample collection time, the detection rate was highest in January 2020 (84.00%, 21/25), followed by December 2021 (59.78%, 55/92).

  Conclusion  The incidence of respiratory track infection caused by viral pathogens decreased obviously in Tongzhou district of Beijing from January 2020 to December 2022, The respiratory track infections were mainly caused by bacterial pathogens in Tongzhou, and co-pathogen infections accounted for a relatively high proportion, especially bacterium + bacterium infections. The co-pathogen infection were more complex and diverse in severe pneumonia cases. The bacterial pathogen with the highest infection rate was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The elderly people, especially men, was susceptible population. Spring and autumn was the seasons with high incidence of infection.