PRAE and Asymptomatic and Symptomatic URI Patients

The primary endpoint is to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic viral carriers among healthy pediatric surgical patients and describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of these patients. This will be done using prospectively collected respiratory swabs from healthy asymptomatic children undergoing elective pediatric surgery. This will result in a quantifiably proportion of children who test positive for respiratory viruses. This aim will define the epidemiologic baseline of silent viral URIs in children undergoing elective surgery. We can then evaluate the association between asymptomatic viral infections and perioperative respiratory adverse events (PRAEs). A secondary endpoint will be to compare the incidence of PRAE between virus positive patients with and without URI symptoms. This will be done by prospectively enrolling patients who report recent (within 2 weeks) or current URI symptoms.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients <18 years of age presenting for elective ambulatory procedures under general anesthesia at NCH. Patient will either identify as asymptomatic or have had URI symptoms currently or within the past two weeks.

Exclusion criteria

• Chronic medical problems (excluding asthma), diagnosis of cancer, transplant recipient, receiving immunomodulatory medications (cyclosporine, tacrolimus, azathioprine, mycophenolate, monoclonal AB, lithium), or currently prescribed antibiotics.