Pre-K and Elementary School Students Have Highest Virus Detection Rates
TUESDAY, Sept. 23, 2025 -- More than 80 percent of pre-kindergarten (pre-K) to 12th-grade students and staff have at least one respiratory virus detected and acute respiratory illness (ARI) episodes, according to a study published online Sept. 15 in Pediatrics.
Jennifer L. Goldman, M.D., from Children's Mercy Kansas City in Missouri, and colleagues examined the incidence of respiratory virus detections and ARIs in pre-K to 12th-grade students and staff in the Knowledge of Infectious Diseases in Schools longitudinal prospective surveillance study. From November 2022 to May 2023, students and staff self-collected nasal swabs and reported respiratory symptoms.
A total of 816 participants (590 students and 226 staff) were enrolled for a median of 24.5 weeks, during which they submitted a median of seven specimens (5,981 specimens and 5,198 symptom surveys). The researchers found that 85.5 percent of participants had at least one virus detected and 80.4 percent had at least one ARI episode. Per 100 enrollment days, adjusted virus detection rates were highest in pre-K and elementary, followed by middle, high school, and staff (1.46, 1.51, 1.19, 0.90, and 0.87, respectively). Per 100 enrollment days, the adjusted ARI rates were 1.66, 1.19, 1.17, 0.76, and 1.45 for pre-K, elementary, middle, high school, and staff, respectively.
"Understanding school level-specific trends could help inform targeted, multilayered infection prevention strategies in schools," the authors write.
Two authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
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