DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2017.v05i08.006

Pages: 585-590

Upper respiratory tract infections (URI or URTI) are illnesses caused by an acute infection which involves the upper respiratory tract including the nose, sinuses, pharynx or larynx. URTI generally includes nasal obstruction, sore throat, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis, Otitis media and the common cold. Most infections are viral in nature and in other instances the cause is bacterial. Upper respiratory tract infections can also be fungal or helminth in origin, but these is far less common. In 2015, 17.2 billion cases of upper respiratory infections occurred. This study was conducted to know the prevalence and incidences of URTI in patients with cleft lip and palate, the association of perioperative and intraoperative respiratory complications in cleft lip and palate patients and to identify the bacterial etiology of URTI in cleft lip and palate. In this study, the patients with pre operative URTI exhibited a greater incidence of peri operative bronchospasm and the patients who had pre operative URTI also had a higher incidence of post operative URTI as well. The incidence of URTI was more in cleft palate patients (63.79%) as against cleft lip patients (3.44%).