Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: PLoS ONE, full page: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
Open Access / Peer-Reviewed
Research Article
Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus Screening in Patients with Fever and Flu-Like Symptoms in a Tertiary Hospital in an Area with Confirmed Cases
Chao Wu, Rui Huang, Jianjun Chen, Qin Gu, Bin Zhu, Jun Wang, Kui Zhang, Quanjiao Chen, Chaochao Xiong, Yong Liu, Jiequan Li, Yi-Hua Zhou, Yitao Ding
Published: December 18, 2013 / DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082613
Abstract
Novel avian influenza A(H7N9) virus was isolated in fatal patients in Yangtze River Delta of China in March 2013. We aimed to screen the virus in febrile patients in a tertiary hospital in an area with confirmed cases. Throat-swab specimens collected from consecutive patients with fever (≥38?C) and flu-like symptoms from April 15 to April 25, 2013 were subjected to detect novel avian influenza A(H7N9) virus with real-time PCR. The clinical outcomes in the patients and close contacts were followed up. Of total 200 patients screened, one (0.5%) was positive for avian influenza A(H7N9) virus and 199 others were negative. The infected patient experienced respiratory failure and had diffuse infiltrates in the right lower lobe in chest CT images. He received symptomatic and antibacterial treatments as well as oseltamivir. His condition was substantially improved within three days after admission; avian influenza A(H7N9) virus was not detected after 5 days' antiviral therapy. The hemagglutinin inhibition test showed that the serum titers against avian influenza A(H7N9) virus increased from <1:20 at the early phase to 1:80 at the convalescent phase. Follow-up of 23 close contacts showed that none of them developed fever and other symptoms within two weeks. Our findings suggest that although the infection rate of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in patients with fever and flu-like symptoms is rare, the screening is valuable to rapidly define the infection, which will be critical to improve the clinical outcomes.
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Citation: Wu C, Huang R, Chen J, Gu Q, Zhu B, et al. (2013) Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus Screening in Patients with Fever and Flu-Like Symptoms in a Tertiary Hospital in an Area with Confirmed Cases. PLoS ONE 8(12): e82613. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082613
Editor: Suryaprakash Sambhara, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States of America
Received: September 12, 2013; Accepted: November 4, 2013; Published: December 18, 2013
Copyright: ? 2013 Wu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This study was supported by Jiangsu Province's Outstanding Medical Academic Leader Program (No. LJ201154) and a Special Grant from Jiangsu Science and Technology Department (No. BL2012034). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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Open Access / Peer-Reviewed
Research Article
Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus Screening in Patients with Fever and Flu-Like Symptoms in a Tertiary Hospital in an Area with Confirmed Cases
Chao Wu, Rui Huang, Jianjun Chen, Qin Gu, Bin Zhu, Jun Wang, Kui Zhang, Quanjiao Chen, Chaochao Xiong, Yong Liu, Jiequan Li, Yi-Hua Zhou, Yitao Ding
Published: December 18, 2013 / DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082613
Abstract
Novel avian influenza A(H7N9) virus was isolated in fatal patients in Yangtze River Delta of China in March 2013. We aimed to screen the virus in febrile patients in a tertiary hospital in an area with confirmed cases. Throat-swab specimens collected from consecutive patients with fever (≥38?C) and flu-like symptoms from April 15 to April 25, 2013 were subjected to detect novel avian influenza A(H7N9) virus with real-time PCR. The clinical outcomes in the patients and close contacts were followed up. Of total 200 patients screened, one (0.5%) was positive for avian influenza A(H7N9) virus and 199 others were negative. The infected patient experienced respiratory failure and had diffuse infiltrates in the right lower lobe in chest CT images. He received symptomatic and antibacterial treatments as well as oseltamivir. His condition was substantially improved within three days after admission; avian influenza A(H7N9) virus was not detected after 5 days' antiviral therapy. The hemagglutinin inhibition test showed that the serum titers against avian influenza A(H7N9) virus increased from <1:20 at the early phase to 1:80 at the convalescent phase. Follow-up of 23 close contacts showed that none of them developed fever and other symptoms within two weeks. Our findings suggest that although the infection rate of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in patients with fever and flu-like symptoms is rare, the screening is valuable to rapidly define the infection, which will be critical to improve the clinical outcomes.
_____
Citation: Wu C, Huang R, Chen J, Gu Q, Zhu B, et al. (2013) Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus Screening in Patients with Fever and Flu-Like Symptoms in a Tertiary Hospital in an Area with Confirmed Cases. PLoS ONE 8(12): e82613. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082613
Editor: Suryaprakash Sambhara, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States of America
Received: September 12, 2013; Accepted: November 4, 2013; Published: December 18, 2013
Copyright: ? 2013 Wu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This study was supported by Jiangsu Province's Outstanding Medical Academic Leader Program (No. LJ201154) and a Special Grant from Jiangsu Science and Technology Department (No. BL2012034). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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