Respiratory Pathogens in Infants Diagnosed with Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Western India Using Multiplex Real Time PCR.

Objective: To determine the frequency of respiratory pathogens in infants diagnosed with acute lower respiratory tract infections.

Methods: A prospective cross-sectional observational study was conducted in infants hospitalized with a diagnosis of acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI), in a tertiary care hospital in a metropolitan city of Western India. Nasopharyngeal swabs were analyzed by multiplex real time polymerase chain reaction, for 18 viruses and 3 bacteria (H.