Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2026; 28(1):50-63
To study etiological structure of respiratory tract infections in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) across different age groups.
A total of 173 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PCD from various regions of the Russian Federation were examined from 2023 to 2025. The patients were divided into 4 age groups: children (0–6 years) – 42 patients; children (7–12 years) – 42 patients; adolescents (13–17 years) – 43 patients; adults (18 years and older) – 46 patients. The study employed bacteriological methods, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, molecular genetic methods, disk diffusion for antibiotic susceptibility testing, and statistical methods.
A comparative analysis of the etiological structure of respiratory tract infections in the four age groups of PCD patients showed that the greatest diversity of clinically significant fungal and bacterial pathogens was observed in the adolescent group – 28, and the smallest in the adult group – 24. The study revealed that S. aureus was most frequently detected in children and adolescents: 0–6 years – in 47.6% of cases; 7–12 years – in 64.3%; adolescents 13–17 years – in 74.4%. In the adult age group, P. aeruginosa predominated – in 80.4% of cases. Antibiotic susceptibility testing using the disk diffusion method revealed that 24.4% of S. aureus isolates were multidrug-resistant, while among P. aeruginosa isolates, 33.3% were multidrug-resistant. Among fungal pathogens, fungi of the genera Candida and Aspergillus were most frequently isolated.
The conducted study showed that in patients with PCD, the cause of respiratory tract infection (RTI) in most cases is bacterial representatives of opportunistic flora. The dominant pathogens include: S. aureus – 53.8%; P. aeruginosa – 38.7%; H. influenzae – 21.4%; S. pneumoniae – 17.9%. It was established that the complication of chronic lung infection (CLI) occurs most frequently in adulthood – 63%, and its etiological cause in 100% of cases is P. aeruginosa.