Abstract:Objective To understand the viral pathogen infection and epidemiological characteristics of children with acute respiratory tract infection(ARTI) in Tongzhou District of Beijing, and provide evidence for making strategies for disease surveillance, prevention and control. Methods ARTI in children in Beijing Luhe Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University between January 2011 and June 2018 were selected, nine kinds of respiratory viral pathogens were detected by multiplex real-time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction, and the infection status of each respiratory viral pathogen was analyzed. Results Among 544 children with ARTI, 174 were positive for respi-ratory tract viral pathogens, positive rate was 32.0%. Positive rates of rhinovirus and influenza virus were 9.4% and 8.6% respectively, which were higher than those of other pathogens. There was no significant difference in the positive rate of respiratory tract pathogens in different seasons; constituent of respiratory tract pathogens in different seasons was significant. Incidence of runny nose in children with positive pathogens was higher than that in children with negative pathogens (P=0.015); positive rate of respiratory pathogens in children with acute upper respiratory tract infection was higher than that in children with pneumonia(43.9% vs 22.3%,P<0.001). Compared with pneumonia, influenza virus, rhinovirus, metapneumovirus, coronavirus and enterovirus were more likely to be isolated from acute upper respiratory tract infection. Conclusion Acute respiratory tract infection in children in Tongzhou District are mainly caused by rhinovirus and influenza virus, respiratory virus is more likely to cause acute upper respiratory tract infection.