{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T06:23:43Z","timestamp":1787207023763,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787184000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pediatr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Acute respiratory infections are caused by a diverse range of pathogens. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological profiles and clinical features of major respiratory pathogens by analyzing their detection rates in hospitalized pediatric patients.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Nasopharyngeal swab specimens were retrospectively enrolled from pediatric inpatients diagnosed with acute respiratory infections at the Department of Pediatrics, Lixin County People's Hospital, between February 2024 and August 2025. All specimens were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays targeting six major respiratory pathogens, namely adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A virus, influenza B virus, parainfluenza virus, and\n                      <jats:italic>Mycoplasma pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      . Based on the PCR results, we further delineated the epidemiological trends, age-stratified distribution, and corresponding clinical profiles associated with each identified pathogen.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The epidemiological and clinical profiles of the six detected respiratory pathogens are summarized below. In brief, the overall positivity rate of pathogens exhibited winter-spring predominance, with adenovirus and RSV showing the broadest outbreak windows (November\u2013July and November\u2013May, respectively), while influenza A was more restricted (December\u2013March).\n                      <jats:italic>Mycoplasma pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      displayed a sporadic annual pattern without a statistically significant seasonal peak. Age distribution varied substantially: RSV targeted children &amp;lt; 3 years, M. pneumoniae affected those &amp;gt; 1 year, and influenza A showed a slight infant-toddler predominance. Clinically, while fever and cough were universal, RSV was distinguished by a significantly elevated wheezing rate (27.57% vs. 3.97%\u20139.52% for others), Febrile seizures were most frequently observed in influenza A virus infections (6.29%), followed by adenovirus (3.57%). Dyspnea or cyanosis was uniformly rare across all pathogens (\u2264 0.45%).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>During the winter season, multiple respiratory pathogens tend to circulate actively. Acute respiratory infections caused by different pathogens exhibit distinct age distributions and clinical manifestations. These features, when combined with local epidemiological data, may assist clinicians in promptly identifying the likely causative pathogen.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fped.2026.1918213","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T05:26:42Z","timestamp":1787203602000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Clinical and epidemiological profiles of six respiratory pathogens in hospitalized children in Lixin County, Anhui, China (2024\u20132025)"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Tong","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Ward 2, Lixin County People\u2019s Hospital","place":["Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaolei","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lixin County People\u2019s 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