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Both virus-mediated damage to airway tissues and induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-8 (IL-8) could contribute to symptom severity during viral respiratory infections in children. To test the hypothesis that IL-8 contributes to the pathogenesis of respiratory symptoms during naturally acquired respiratory viral infections in children, nasal wash samples collected from infants with acute viral infections (n = 198) or from healthy uninfected infants (n = 31) were analysed for IL-8. Nasal wash IL-8 was positively related to age in uninfected children (rs = 0.36, p influenza, p < 0.05). Finally, there were significant correlations between nasal wash IL-8 levels and symptom scores during infections with rhinovirus (rs = 0.56, p < 0.001) or influenza A (rs = 0.45, p < 0.05), but not with parainfluenza virus or RSV. These findings provide evidence of a close relationship between the generation of IL-8 and symptoms during acute community-acquired infections with rhinovirus or influenza A. In contrast, for RSV and parainfluenza infections, factors in addition to IL-8 production appear to contribute to the generation of clinical symptoms.
Gern et al. (Sun,) studied this question.