Upper respiratory tract infection

Upper respiratory tract infection
Conducting passages
SpecialtyInfectious disease
Frequency(2015)[1]
Deaths3,100[2]

An upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is an illness caused by an acute infection, which involves the upper respiratory tract, including the nose, sinuses, pharynx, larynx or trachea.[3][4] This commonly includes nasal obstruction, sore throat, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, otitis media, and the common cold.[5]: 28  Most infections are viral in nature, and in other instances, the cause is bacterial.[6] URTIs can also be fungal or helminthic in origin, but these are less common.[7]: 443–445 

In 2015, 17.2 billion cases of URTIs are estimated to have occurred.[1] As of 2016, they caused about 3,000 deaths, down from 4,000 in 1990.[8]

  1. ^ a b Vos T, Allen C, Arora M, Barber RM, Bhutta ZA, Brown A, et al. (GBD 2015 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators) (October 2016). "Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". Lancet. 388 (10053): 1545–1602. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31678-6. PMC 5055577. PMID 27733282.
  2. ^ Wang H, Naghavi M, Allen C, Barber RM, Bhutta ZA, Carter A, et al. (GBD 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators) (October 2016). "Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". Lancet. 388 (10053): 1459–1544. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(16)31012-1. PMC 5388903. PMID 27733281.
  3. ^ Guibas GV, Papadopoulos NG (2017). "Viral Upper Respiratory Tract Infections". In Green RJ (ed.). Viral Infections in Children, Volume II. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 1–25. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-54093-1_1. ISBN 978-3-319-54093-1. PMC 7121526.
  4. ^ Ellis ME (12 February 1998). Infectious Diseases of the Respiratory Tract. Cambridge University Press. p. 453. ISBN 978-0-521-40554-6. Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  5. ^ Pokorski M (2015). Pulmonary infection. Cham: Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-17458-7.
  6. ^ "Rhinitis Versus Sinusitis in Children" (PDF). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ * Heymann D (2015). Control of communicable diseases manual: an official report of the American Public Health Association. APHA Press, the American Public Health Association. ISBN 978-0-87553-018-5.
  8. ^ Lozano R, Naghavi M, Foreman K, Lim S, Shibuya K, Aboyans V, et al. (December 2012). "Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010". Lancet. 380 (9859): 2095–128. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61728-0. hdl:10536/DRO/DU:30050819. PMC 10790329. PMID 23245604. S2CID 1541253. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.