2023 Volume 37 Issue 5 Pages 467-476
Viral infections are involved in the development and exacerbation of pediatric asthma. There are numerous reports about them, such as rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, etc., and we often meet the patients practically. Recently, it has been reported other viruses, such as, human metapneumovirus, pandemic A/H1N1 2009, A (H1N1) pdm09, and enterovirus D68 can also induce asthma exacerbation. On the other hand, there are fewer reports about the relationships between asthma exacerbation and severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2. We report that rhinovirus was predominantly present in specimens of nasopharyngeal mucosa cells from hospitalized asthmatic children with exacerbation between 2012 and 2015. Some patients were hospitalized repeatedly by rhinovirus-induced asthmatic exacerbation, similar to previous reports. During the pandemic of A (H1N1) pdm09, there were a lot of pediatric patients who were hospitalized by severe pulmonary complication, such as pneumonia, severe asthmatic exacerbation, and atelectasis. We tried analysis of the pathophysiology and establishment of the treatment and prevention of severe pulmonary complications in asthmatic children during A (H1N1) pdm09 infection using an animal model as the base. The use of the animal model was because our model showed some similarities to clinical features in A (H1N1) pdm09-infected asthmatic children. In this review, we explain the clinical characteristics and the results of our research about the pathophysiology of virus-induced severe complication in children with bronchial asthma.
