Introduction: Allergic diseases are an important clinical and social issue. The latest epidemiological analyses demonstrate that there is an increasing occurrence of allergic diseases in our population. There are many problems with the correct diagnosis of asthma at an early age. Therefore much attention is still paid to seek an uninvasive method which would allow to confirm and asses the inflammatory process taking place in the airways. One of such methods is assessment of nasopharyngeal aspirates. The evaluation of the nasopharyngeal secretion allows to draw conclusions concerning the inflammatory process in the entire respiratory tract. In this study we assessed specific inflammatory markers in nasopharyngeal aspirates and their utility in predicting recurrence of bronchitis in children.

Material and methods: 74 patients (50 boys and 24 girls) aged 1–12 months hospitalized because of their first bronchitis episode were included in this study. The control group consisted of 31 children (25 boys and 6 girls) aged 3–41 months. Modified ISAAC questionnaire has been done. Nasopharyngeal aspirates, urine sample, blood sample were investigated to assess the concentration of IgE, LTC4/D4/E4 i ECP and the concentration of virus’ antibodies (RSV, adenovirus, parainfluenza type 3). After 12 months the number of wheezing episodes was assessed.

Conclusions: The concentrations of  LTC4/D4/E4 i ECP w NPA i LTE4   in urine sample and IgE collected from a child during the first wheezing episode are not useful markers of recurrence during the year following the first incidence. RSV, parainfluenza virus type 3 and adenovirus do not induce an elevation of cysteinyl leukotrienes, eosinophilic cationic protein in the nasopharyngeal aspirates. These viruses have no influence on the increase of LTE₄ in the urine and are not beneficial in  predicting wheezing recurrence one year following the first episode.