An Investigation of Acute Respiratory Disease in Children Admitted to Hospital in the South West Metropolitan Region

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Abstract
An investigation of acute respiratory illness in children admitted to 10 hospitals in the South West Metropolitan Region of London is described. The study period lasted 14 months and included the Asian influenza epidemic and also 2 outbreaks of epidemic bronchitis. Serological tests were carried out on 132 children in the London area. Asian influenza virus infection was more common in children over 5 years of age than in those aged 1 to 4 years, and infants were rarely affected. The influenza epidemic involved London and the South Coast simultaneously. About half of all admissions were for uncomplicated upper respiratory tract infections. Only a few children required treatment in oxygen tents. Infection with influenza virus was limited to the time of the Asian influenza epidemic, whereas adenovirus infections occurred throughout the period of study and were most commonly diagnosed in children aged 1 to 4 years, who had been admitted with bronchitis or pneumonia. Epidemic bronchitis occurred as 2 separate and circumscribed outbreaks, one on the South Coast in December 1957 and one in London in February 1958. The London outbreak extended as far as Guildford. Infants were predominantly affected and were diagnosed either as acute bronchitis, as bronchiolitis or as bronchopneumonia. Evidence is presented that epidemic bronchitis caused more admissions, more severe illness and, in London, more deaths among young children than did the 1957 Asian influenza epidemic.