This study aimed to identify the respiratory viral etiology and clinical features in febrile neonates and young infants younger than 3 months of age. From June 2015 to March 2016, 126 patients who admitted to the pediatrics department of Kwangju Christian Hospital due to febrile illness (body temperature ≥ 38.0℃) without definite focus of fever. We tested nasopharyngeal aspiration specimens with real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Respiratory viruses identified in 66 patients, and not identified in 60 patients. Among identified viruses, the most common pathogen was rhinovirus. Respiratory virus identified patients showed significantly higher presence of sibling (p=0.015), sibling who attending day care center (p=0.022), respiratory symptoms of family members (p=0.022), concomitant respiratory symptoms of the patient (p=0.001).

The present study aimed to identify the factors that can clinically predict responses to macrolides treatment in patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia. Of the patients admitted to the pediatrics department of Kwangju Christian Hospital during December 2012 to March 2015, 195 patients who had pneumonia according to findings of chest radiography, positive Mycoplasma IgM, and fever at the time of admission were selected as study subjects. Patients were divided into one group wherein the duration of fever after macrolides treatment was 3 days or less and another group wherein the duration of fever was 4 days or more (169 patients [86.7%] vs 26 patients [13.3%]). In the group with fever duration of 4 days or more, a greater number of patients had a history of atopic dermatitis (3.6% vs 15.4%, p=0.11), and the symptom duration before admission was longer (cough: 4.04 days vs 6.38 days, p<0.001; fever: 3.96 days vs 6.08 days, p<0.001). Moreover, according to laboratory test results in the group with fever duration of 4 days or more, LDH levels were high (648.16 IU/L vs 829.92 IU/L, p=0.001), and there was a significant correlation between LDH levels and the duration of fever after macrolides treatment.