17th February 2025

Overview of viral respiratory infections

Viral respiratory tract infections tend to affect the upper respiratory regions and are often self limiting.  Due to their high transmissibility, viruses are likely candidates for respiratory pandemics, such as those seen in the COVID-19 pandemic. Detection is often via reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing or, alternatively, cultures grown from sputum or serum. Often, treatment is supportive.