{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T15:01:26Z","timestamp":1787065286263,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,27]],"date-time":"2024-01-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1706313600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are the most common infectious syndromes, primarily caused by viruses. The primary objective was to compare the illness courses between historical RTIs and recent SARS-CoV-2 infections. The study cohort consisted of RTI cases evaluated at the Pediatric Emergency Departments of Padua and Bologna, discharged or admitted with microbiologically confirmed viral RTI between 1 November 2018 and 30 April 2019 (historical period) and 1 March 2020 and 30 April 2021 (recent period). We evaluated the risk of oxygen or respiratory support, hospitalization, antibiotic therapy, and complications among different viral infections. The odds ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated through mixed-effect logistic regression models, including a random intercept on the individual and hospital. We identified 767 RTIs: 359 in the historical period compared with 408 SARS-CoV-2 infections. Infections of SARS-CoV-2 had a lower risk of being admitted (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.03\u20130.07), receiving respiratory support (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.06\u20130.58), needing antibiotic therapy (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.22\u20130.56) and developing complications (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.14\u20130.51) compared to all other viral RTIs. COVID-19 in children is clinically similar to other viral RTIs but is associated with a less severe infection course. Thus, most prevention strategies implemented for SARS-CoV-2 should still be considered during RSV and Influenza epidemics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v16020199","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,29]],"date-time":"2024-01-29T08:11:27Z","timestamp":1706515887000},"page":"199","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Comparison between the Viral Illness Caused by SARS-CoV-2, Influenza Virus, Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Other Respiratory Viruses in Pediatrics"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-0600-7745","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giulia","family":"Brigadoi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department for Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giulia Camilla","family":"Demarin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department for Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-8339-9485","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Riccardo","family":"Boracchini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Healthcare Research & Pharmacoepidemiology, Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8175-5488","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luca","family":"Pierantoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Emergency Unit, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sara","family":"Rossin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Emergency Department, Department of Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0850-8784","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisa","family":"Barbieri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department for Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesca","family":"Tirelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Emergency Department, Department of Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3700-780X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna","family":"Cantarutti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Healthcare Research & Pharmacoepidemiology, Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gaia","family":"Tempo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario \u201cA Gemelli\u201d IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carlo","family":"Giaquinto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department for Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcello","family":"Lanari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Emergency Unit, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2977-3907","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Liviana","family":"Da Dalt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Emergency Department, Department of Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7105-2105","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniele","family":"Don\u00e0","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department for Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/S1386-6532(99)00075-X","article-title":"Rapid detection of respiratory viruses by centrifugation enhanced cultures from children with acute lower respiratory tract infections","volume":"16","author":"Maitreyi","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. 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