Influenza viruses circulation in a tertiary care children hospital in Rome: a comparison between 2022 and the previous 5 years

Italian Journal of Pediatrics

Research

Marta Luisa Ciofi degli Atti¹  Massimiliano Raponi²  Sebastian Cristaldi³  Alberto Villani³  Velia Chiara Di Maio⁴  Leonarda Gentile⁴  Eugenia Galeno⁴  Luana Coltella⁴  Stefania Ranno⁴  Luna Colagrossi⁴  Giulia Linardos⁴  Carlo Federico Perno⁴  Cristina Russo⁴ 

[1] Epidemiology, Clinical Pathways and Clinical Risk, Medical Direction, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy;Medical Direction, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy;Pediatric Unit, Pediatric Emergency Department, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy;Unit of Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Piazza Sant’Onofrio, 4, 00165, Rome, Italy;

关键词: Influenza;    Year-round surveillance;    Pediatric;    Influenza-like Illness;    Seasonality;    Out-of-season circulation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13052-023-01519-3

 received in 2023-07-28, accepted in 2023-08-27,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundInfluenza surveillance aims to determine onset, duration and intensity of the seasonal Influence-like Illness (ILI); data collection begins in the week 42 of a year and ends in the week 17 of the following year. In this observational study, we report the experience of a tertiary care children hospital in Rome about Influenza viruses circulation during the calendar year 2022 (January-December) in comparison with the previous five years (2017–2021), with a special focus on the weeks 18–41, usually not under surveillance.MethodsThis retrospective study involved 36782 respiratory samples referred to 21354 patients (pts), median age 2.63 years, admitted with respiratory symptoms at Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in the years 2017–2022. Respiratory viruses were detected by molecular Allplex™ Respiratory Panel Assays (Seegene, Korea).ResultsRegarding the pre pandemic years, 2017–2019, distribution of Flu positive patients focused in the first weeks of the year (weeks 1–17). During the pandemic period, Flu was not detected. In 2022, 239 Flu viruses were identified: 37 FluA (weeks 1–17), 29 FluA (weeks 18–41) and 168 FluA and 5 FluB (weeks 42–52). For the year 2022, during the non-epidemic period, the number of Flu viruses detected corresponded to 12.1% of total Flu detected, respect to 0-1.7% for the previous five years (p < 0.001).ConclusionsWhen compared with pre SARS-CoV-2 pandemic years, our data show a significant increase in Influenza cases during weeks 18–41/2022 and reveal an unexpected summer circulation of these viruses: just weeks 26–30 showed to be influenza virus free. A national year-round Flu surveillance could be useful to understand if changing in influenza epidemiology is transitional or likely to persist in the following years.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Società Italiana di Pediatria 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 3

Fig. 1

Fig. 4