Introduction:

Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) caused by respiratory viruses are a significant source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. We aimed to determine the prevalence of respiratory viruses in patients with suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection and to explore the association between SARS-CoV-2 coinfection with other respiratory viruses and the severity of acute respiratory illness.

Methodology:

We conducted a cross-sectional study and analysed nasopharyngeal swabs from patients with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 in Santander, Colombia. We selected positive and negative samples for SARS-CoV-2 through probabilistic sampling. We used RT-qPCR to detect 15 respiratory viruses in swabs stored at -80°C. Clinical and epidemiological data were extracted for from notification form submitted with the respiratory sample to assess the disease severity (hospitalization or death due to ARI).

Results:

We included 600 nasopharyngeal swabs collected between April 2020 and November 2021. The median age of the patients was 55.0 years [IQR: 34.0], with 58.5% being male. The prevalence of rhinovirus and adenovirus C was 4.8% and 0.3%, respectively. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 coinfection with rhinovirus and adenovirus C was 3.3% (95% CI: 1.7-5.5) and 0.3% (95% CI: 0.0-1.4), respectively. At the time of sample collection, 30.2% corresponded to outpatients, 59.8% to hospitalized patients, and 10.0% to fatal cases. A difference in the report of comorbidities was observed between cases and controls (61.0% vs. 46.5%; p = 0.012). No association was found between coinfection and disease severity (OR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.33 - 3.10), adjusting for age, sex, social security, and comorbidities.

Conclusions:

During the epidemic period, there was low circulation of other respiratory viruses. We did not observe an association between coinfection and severity in the evaluated samples.