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Bronchiolitis and SARS-CoV-2
  1. Gregorio Paolo Milani1,2,
  2. Valentina Bollati2,
  3. Luca Ruggiero3,
  4. Samantha Bosis3,
  5. Raffaella Maria Pinzani3,
  6. Giovanna Lunghi4,
  7. Federica Rota2,
  8. Laura Dioni2,
  9. Anna Luganini5,
  10. Carlo Agostoni1,2,
  11. Paola Marchisio3,6
  1. 1 Pediatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda-Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Lombardia, Italy
  2. 2 Department of Clinical Science and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Lombardia, Italy
  3. 3 Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Lombardia, Italy
  4. 4 Microbiology and Virology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Lombardia, Italy
  5. 5 Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Piemonte, Italy
  6. 6 Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Lombardia, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Professor Carlo Agostoni, Department of Pediatrics, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda-Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Lombardia 9, 20122, Italy; carlo.agostoni{at}unimi.it

Abstract

Background It has been speculated that the SARS-CoV-2 was already widespread in western countries before February 2020.

Methods We gauged this hypothesis by analysing the nasal swab of infants with either bronchiolitis or a non-infectious disease admitted to the Ospedale Maggiore, Milan (one of the first epicentres of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Europe) from November 2019.

Results The SARS-CoV-2 RNA was never detected in 218 infants with bronchiolitis (95 females, median age 4.9 months) and 49 infants (22 females, median age 5.6 months) with a non-infectious disease between November 2019 and February 2020. On the contrary, two infants hospitalised for bronchiolitis between March and April 2020 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Conclusions This study does not support the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 was already circulating among infants before the official outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, it shows for the first time that SARS-CoV-2 might cause bronchiolitis requiring hospitalisation.

  • virology
  • epidemiology
  • COVID-19

Data availability statement

Data are available on reasonable request.

This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-321108

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available on reasonable request.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors GPM, LR, SB and RMP contributed to data collection. GL, FR, LD, GL and AL contributed to data analysis; VB, CA and PM contributed to data interpretation. GPM, VB and PM wrote the first draft of the manuscript. LR, SB, RMP, FR, LD, GL, AL and CA reviewed the first draft of the manuscript.

    • Funding The study was supported by a grant of the Italian Ministry of Education and University (PRIN 2017 2017HWPZZZ) and the Italian Ministry of Health (Ricerca Corrente 2019).

    • Disclaimer The funding agencies had no role in study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation, or writing of the report.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.