ABSTRACT

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a significant cause for childhood morbidity worldwide. In the studies conducted in western countries, about a third of CAP cases have been of viral origin, and another third of mixed viral–bacterial origin. The prospective population-based studies on pediatric CAP in western countries are from the 1970s and 1980s. When antibody assays alone were used for the diagnosis of viral infection in CAP in children, viral etiology was confirmed in 20–45% of the patients, and respiratory syncytial virus was the dominant finding. The introduction of polymerase chain reaction for viral diagnosis in studies on CAP in children has increased the detection of rhinoviruses, enteroviruses, human metapneumovirus and human bocavirus. Human metapneumovirus is an etiological agent in pediatric CAP, but the prevalence is less than 10% of viral CAP, and the role is limited to infants and young children.