Virological analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in patients with respiratory disease in Wuhan

Purpose: Identifying the cause of respiratory tract infections is important to reduce the burden of diagnosis and treatment. However, defining viral pneumonia based on viral detection in upper respiratory tract specimens gives ambiguous results. Thus, this study aimed to assess viral etiologies via bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) specimens from patients with different respiratory diseases. Methods BALF specimens (n = 335) from adult patients with respiratory disease were sampled between November 2020 and November 2021, and 22 respiratory viruses were detected using multiplex reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Clinical data were collected from the hospital information system. Results At least one virus was identified in 118 (35.22%) cases. The most common viruses identified were influenza (33.13%), parainfluenza (3.28%), coronavirus (2.99%), rhinoviruses (2.09%), and respiratory syncytial (1.49%) viruses. No variations were observed in clinical symptoms between the viral and non-viral groups or among the different respiratory disease groups. The highest viral detection rate was observed in the tuberculosis group. Viral load was higher in co-infection than in single infection. In addition to influenza viruses, other viruses listed above are important in the etiology of lower respiratory tract infections in adults. Conclusion The findings suggest that rapid and accurate laboratory respiratory virus diagnosis is necessary for disease diagnosis and avoiding unnecessary antimicrobial drug use.