Braz J Infect Dis. 2018 Oct 31. pii: S1413-8670(18)30525-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bjid.2018.10.275. [Epub ahead of print]
The influenza season 2016/17 in Bucharest, Romania - surveillance data and clinical characteristics of patients with influenza-like illness admitted to a tertiary infectious diseases hospital.

Drăgănescu A1, Săndulescu O2, Florea D3, Vlaicu O1, Streinu-Cercel A3, Oţelea D1, Aramă V3, Luminos ML3, Streinu-Cercel A3, Niţescu M3, Ivanciuc A4, Bacruban R1, Piţigoi D3.
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Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Influenza continues to drive seasonal morbidity, particularly in settings with low vaccine coverage.
OBJECTIVES:

To describe the influenza cases and viral circulation among hospitalized patients.
METHODS:

A prospective study based on active surveillance of inpatients with influenza-like illness (ILI) from a tertiary hospital in Bucharest, Romania, in the season 2016/17.
RESULTS:

A total of 446 patients were tested, with a balanced gender distribution. Overall, 192 (43%) patients tested positive for influenza, with the highest positivity rate in the age groups 3-13 years and >65 years. Peak activity occurred between weeks 1 and 16/2017, with biphasic distribution: a viruses were replaced by B viruses from week 9/2017; B viruses predominated (66.1%). Among the 133 (69.3%) subtyped samples, all influenza A were subtype H3 (n=57) and all influenza B were B/Victoria (n=76). Patients who tested positive for influenza presented fewer comorbidities (p=0.012), except for the elderly, in whom influenza was more common in patients with comorbidities (p=0.050). DISEASE: outcome was generally favorable on antiviral treatment. The length of hospital stay was slightly longer in ILI patients negative for influenza (p=0.031).
CONCLUSIONS:

Distinctive co-circulation of A/H3 and B/Victoria in Bucharest, Romania in the 2016/17 influenza season was found. While the A/H3 subtype was predominant throughout Europe that season, B/Victoria appears to have circulated specifically in Romania and the Eastern European region, predominantly affecting preschoolers and school children.
Copyright ? 2018. Published by Elsevier Espa?a, S.L.U.


KEYWORDS:

A/H3; B/Victoria; ILI; Influenza; SARI; Subtype

PMID: 30391275 DOI: 10.1016/j.bjid.2018.10.275
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