Morbidity of Respiratory Syncytial Virus-infections (RSV): RSV compared with SARS-CoV-2 infections in children aged 0 – 4 years in Cologne, Germany

The aim of this retrospective analysis was to provide information on how infections with RSV and SARS-CoV-2 differ in symptoms, clinical course, outcome and the utilization of hospital care. We investigated 748 PCR results from symptomatic children aged 0 - 4 years in Cologne, Germany. 169 patients were tested positive for RSV (22.6%) and 24 children for SARS-CoV-2 (3.2%). Symptomatic patients with RSV-infection were hospitalized significantly longer. RSV-positive patients needed O2-supplementation significantly more often as well as High Flow-therapy. With regard to care efforts, RSV-infected patients put higher pressure on the hospital and utilized more hospital resources.