Cold Weather Viruses
Abstract
Clinicians must learn to identify viral infections in children during the winter months and must practice caution with the use of unnecessary medications in such cases. Recognition of the clinical pattern of viral infection (eg, bronchiolitis) in conjunction with judicious use of viral tests (either office-based immunoassays or newer molecular tests) may assist in epidemiological monitoring, cohorting patients in the hospital, withholding unnecessary therapies, and providing a definitive diagnosis.After completing this article, readers should be able to:In early November you are evaluating a 9-month-old boy born at 33 weeks of gestation. The infant presents with 2 days of fevers (101°F–102°F [38.3°C–38.8°C]), copious rhinorrhea, and 1 day of coughing with difficulty breathing. He is otherwise feeding well and has had adequate urination. His 4-year-older sister has an upper respiratory tract infection.On physical examination, the infant has a respiratory rate of 45 breaths/min without chest wall retractions. On auscultation there is good air entry with scattered rhonchi bilaterally. What is the most appropriate next step in management?This case represents a common scenario encountered by pediatricians during the winter months in the United States. The winter season in the Northern hemisphere begins in late December and ends in late March. An increase in the number of viruses causing infections begins 1 to 2 months before and continues for several weeks to months after the…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Impact of antibiotics on the human microbiome and consequences for host health
- Antibiotics in the clinical pipeline in October 2019
- The incidence of collagen-associated adverse events in pediatric population with the use of fluoroquinolones: a nationwide cohort study in Taiwan
- Research Communications of the 32nd ECVIM-CA Online Congress
- Singlet-Oxygen Therapy. Scientific And Methodological Materials
- Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacovigilance
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.