Respiratory Viruses Identified in an Urban Children’s Hospital Emergency Department During the 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Pandemic

Abstract

During the epidemic of ILI in Spring 2009, other respiratory viruses were identified more frequently than pH1N1 influenza in children with ILIs. Clinical presentation was similar for all respiratory viruses. Molecular diagnostic testing can define the prevalent viruses during community outbreaks and provide guidance to physicians making treatment decisions in emergency departments.

What We Have Learned from the Influenza A pH1N1 2009/10 Pandemic: High Clinical Impact of Human Metapneumovirus and Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients

“…The overall number of admissions due to non-influenza pathogens was higher than the number of admissions due to influenza virus infections during the peak phase of the pandemic. This observation is in accordance with other reports of children presenting to EDs with ILI during the influenza pandemic (10). A study of virus distribution in outpatients (including adults) in Belgium found pH1N1 to be the most common virus among children under the age of 5 years during the pandemic, probably reflecting a correlation between ILI case definition and actual influenza diagnosis.…”

Can we distinguish respiratory viral infections based on clinical features? A prospective pediatric cohort compared to systematic literature review

“…The 47 eligible publications are listed in Table . One quarter of these studies included children aged 0 to 5 years, and 6.4% and 12.8% of studies recruited children aged 0 to 3 years and aged 0 to 2 years, respectively.…”

Epidémiologie virale et sévérité clinique pendant le pic d’épidémie grippale A(H1N1) variant dans les atteintes respiratoires fébriles de l’enfant

“…Le fait que les enfants exclus étaient plus âgés et le biais d'inclusion lié à l'hospitalisation quasi systématique des enfants de moins de 1 an en France selon les recommandations du Haut conseil de la santé publique expliquent probablement le jeune âge des enfants de notre étude. Comme dans de nombreuses études, la symptomatologie de l'infection A(H1N1)v était peu spécifique avec une toux associée à une fièvre [4,19,20], des atteintes digestives fréquentes [21], pas de prédominance de sexe [19] et une prépondérance des surinfections pulmonaires parmi les complications [18]. La symptomatologie clinique est donc peu contributive pour identifier ces virus [1,22,23] et les anomalies paracliniques sont très peu spécifiques [4].…”