tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Infez Med
. 2022 Sep 1;30(3):446-453.
doi: 10.53854/liim-3003-14. eCollection 2022.
Influenza-associated severe acute respiratory infections among children under five years old in Morocco, September 2017 to March 2019
Zakia Regragui[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Abderrahman Bimouhen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Fatima El Falaki[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hassan Ihazmad[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Samira Benkerroum[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Soumia Triki[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Imad Cherkaoui[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Chafiq Mahraoui[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Abdelkarim Filali-Maltouf[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Leila Medraoui[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hicham Oumzil[SUP] 1 6 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
The main aim of this research is to investigate the trend of influenza infection among children under 5 years with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) as well as those who suffer from a high burden of disease. This research is based on a survey conducted from September 2017 to March 2019. During this period nasopharyngeal swabs were collected in a group of 942 children under 5 years with SARI, admitted in pediatric services of 8 sentinel hospitals. The virological surveillance of influenza was carried out at the National influenza Center, located in the National Institute of Hygiene, using a Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRt-PCR) monoplex assay developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta, GA). The median age of participants was 11 months, and 40% of them were female. A total of 112 samples were reported positive yielding a frequency of 11.88% (112/942). Among all the influenza confirmed cases, 68.75% (77/112), 15.17% (17/112), 16.04% (18/112) were subtyped as influenza AH1N1pdm09, AH3N2 and influenza B respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of patients admitted at the intensive care unit was 5,35% (6/112). Out of which 83.33% (5/6) were AH1N1pdm09 and it was reported that just 1.78% (2/112) of the positive cases were vaccinated. The study confirms that influenza affects greatly children with SARI. Thus, the need for influenza vaccines is highly recommended for children under 5 years. Moreover, our findings highlight that influenza virus is not the only cause of SARI among this group of children. Accordingly, special attention should be paid to the non-flu respiratory viruses.
Keywords: SARI; children; influenza.
. 2022 Sep 1;30(3):446-453.
doi: 10.53854/liim-3003-14. eCollection 2022.
Influenza-associated severe acute respiratory infections among children under five years old in Morocco, September 2017 to March 2019
Zakia Regragui[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Abderrahman Bimouhen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Fatima El Falaki[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hassan Ihazmad[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Samira Benkerroum[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Soumia Triki[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Imad Cherkaoui[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Chafiq Mahraoui[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Abdelkarim Filali-Maltouf[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Leila Medraoui[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hicham Oumzil[SUP] 1 6 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 36148170
- PMCID: PMC9448308
- DOI: 10.53854/liim-3003-14
Abstract
The main aim of this research is to investigate the trend of influenza infection among children under 5 years with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) as well as those who suffer from a high burden of disease. This research is based on a survey conducted from September 2017 to March 2019. During this period nasopharyngeal swabs were collected in a group of 942 children under 5 years with SARI, admitted in pediatric services of 8 sentinel hospitals. The virological surveillance of influenza was carried out at the National influenza Center, located in the National Institute of Hygiene, using a Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRt-PCR) monoplex assay developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta, GA). The median age of participants was 11 months, and 40% of them were female. A total of 112 samples were reported positive yielding a frequency of 11.88% (112/942). Among all the influenza confirmed cases, 68.75% (77/112), 15.17% (17/112), 16.04% (18/112) were subtyped as influenza AH1N1pdm09, AH3N2 and influenza B respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of patients admitted at the intensive care unit was 5,35% (6/112). Out of which 83.33% (5/6) were AH1N1pdm09 and it was reported that just 1.78% (2/112) of the positive cases were vaccinated. The study confirms that influenza affects greatly children with SARI. Thus, the need for influenza vaccines is highly recommended for children under 5 years. Moreover, our findings highlight that influenza virus is not the only cause of SARI among this group of children. Accordingly, special attention should be paid to the non-flu respiratory viruses.
Keywords: SARI; children; influenza.