tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
[h=2]Influenza C virus in pre-school children with respiratory infections: retrospective analysis of data from the national influenza surveillance system in Germany, 2012 to 2014
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Influenza viruses are a major threat to human health and are therefore in the focus of national and international health authorities. Among these, influenza virus types A and B are the main considered, as they cause annual epidemics with high morbidity and considerable mortality [1]. In contrast, influenza C virus has been regarded as a pathogen of minor relevance, causing mild or clinically unapparent disease [2,3]. Nevertheless, in recent years, detections of influenza C in hospitalised young children with (severe) lower respiratory tract disease were reported [4-9]. Thus, the clinical and epidemiological significance of this virus species might have been underestimated and needs to be reassessed.
In Europe, the burden of influenza C virus infection in children and adults is largely unknown, as no systematic surveillance data are available. The few studies published mainly focus on clinical data, mostly from hospitalised children [4,9,10]. In Germany, no surveillance data and no sequence information on circulating influenza C viruses have ever been reported. Therefore, we decided to search for influenza C in our outpatient sample collection assembled for the purpose of influenza virus surveillance in Germany. As young children are described to have the highest infection rates [6,7,11], we confined our study to the 0?4 year-old age group. We furthermore sequenced the haemagglutinin esterase (HE) gene from influenza C-positive samples to phylogenetically characterise the detected viruses.
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full article
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.10.1800174
- Annemarie Fritsch[SUP]1[/SUP], Brunhilde Schweiger[SUP]1[/SUP], Barbara Biere[SUP]1[/SUP]
Influenza viruses are a major threat to human health and are therefore in the focus of national and international health authorities. Among these, influenza virus types A and B are the main considered, as they cause annual epidemics with high morbidity and considerable mortality [1]. In contrast, influenza C virus has been regarded as a pathogen of minor relevance, causing mild or clinically unapparent disease [2,3]. Nevertheless, in recent years, detections of influenza C in hospitalised young children with (severe) lower respiratory tract disease were reported [4-9]. Thus, the clinical and epidemiological significance of this virus species might have been underestimated and needs to be reassessed.
In Europe, the burden of influenza C virus infection in children and adults is largely unknown, as no systematic surveillance data are available. The few studies published mainly focus on clinical data, mostly from hospitalised children [4,9,10]. In Germany, no surveillance data and no sequence information on circulating influenza C viruses have ever been reported. Therefore, we decided to search for influenza C in our outpatient sample collection assembled for the purpose of influenza virus surveillance in Germany. As young children are described to have the highest infection rates [6,7,11], we confined our study to the 0?4 year-old age group. We furthermore sequenced the haemagglutinin esterase (HE) gene from influenza C-positive samples to phylogenetically characterise the detected viruses.
..
full article
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.10.1800174