Background: Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) is a new respiratory virus associated with acute respiratory infection in children. Infection with this virus is usually accompanied by upper and lower infections of the respiratory tract in adults. Objectives: In a retrospective study, we investigated the incidence of coronavirus infection in children under the age of five years. Methods: We collected 138 specimens (nasal and throat swabs) from children less than five-years-old with acute respiratory infection from October 2018 to December 2019. Then, HCoV-NL63 was investigated using real-time PCR. Results: Out of 138 samples, 33 (23.9%) were positive for coronavirus NL63, including 21 (63.6%) male samples and 12 (36.4%) female samples. There was no significant correlation between gender and positivity for coronavirus infection (P > 0.05). However, the association of clinical symptoms with the virus was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study was conducted for the first time in Kerman Province. In this study, the frequency of coronavirus NL63 was evaluated among children with acute respiratory infection with a highly sensitive method, real-time PCR. The prevalence of this virus was 33%, which was more frequent than in similar studies.

Background: Theory-based tobacco use prevention programs in schools were implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of this peer-led intervention on tobacco use-related knowledge, attitude, normative beliefs, and intention to tobacco use of school children aged 14–17 years old. Methods: A school-based cluster randomized controlled intervention study was conducted among 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd grade high school children in Sanandaj City, Iran. 4-h integrated tobacco use prevention program comprising of four structured modules was developed and delivered to the intervention group by trained peer educator. Outcome measures comprised changes in students’ smoking-related knowledge, attitude, normative beliefs, and intention to tobacco use from baseline to 6-month follow-up through validated anonymous questionnaire. Results: The present study showed an intervention effect on tobacco use-related knowledge, normative beliefs, and intention to tobacco use but not attitude. The results indicated that there was significant decrease in intention to tobacco use ( P ≤ 0.013) observed after 6-month postintervention. The intervention module was also effective in improving smoking knowledge ( P ≤ 0.001), normative beliefs with regard to perceived prevalence of cigarette smoking and water-pipe use among adults and adolescents ( P ≤ 0.001) in intervention group 6-month postintervention. Conclusions: Participation in the peer-led education program to tobacco use prevention may have improvement in knowledge, normative beliefs, and intention to tobacco use. An implementation of the peer-led behavioral intervention components in the school setting may have a beneficial effect on public health by decreasing intention to tobacco use among nonsmoker adolescents.

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