Abstract
BackgroundAcute viral respiratory illnesses in children in sub-Saharan Africa have received relatively little attention, although they are much more frequent causes of morbidity and mortality than in developed countries. Active surveillance is essential to identify the causative agents and to improve clinical management, especially in the context of possible circulation of pandemic viruses.FindingsA prospective study was conducted in the Central African Republic (CAR) between January and December 2010 among infants and children aged 0–15 years attending sentinel sites for influenza-like illness or acute respiratory illness. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected, and one-step real-time and multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction were used to detect respiratory viruses. Respiratory viruses were detected in 49 of the 329 (14.9%) nasopharyngeal samples: 29 (8.8%) contained influenza viruses (5 (1.5%) had pandemic influenza A/H1N1 virus and 24 (7.3%) had influenza B viruses), 11 (3.3%) contained parainfluenza viruses types 1 and 3 and 9 (2.7%) contained human respiratory syncytial virus. Most cases were detected during the rainy season in the CAR. Analysis of the amplicon sequences confirmed the identity of each detected virus.ConclusionsThe influenza surveillance system in the CAR has provided valuable data on the seasonality of influenza and the circulation of other respiratory viruses. Our network could therefore play a valuable role in the prevention and control of influenza epidemics in the CAR.
Highlights
Acute viral respiratory illnesses in children in sub-Saharan Africa have received relatively little attention, they are much more frequent causes of morbidity and mortality than in developed countries
Our network could play a valuable role in the prevention and control of influenza epidemics in the Central African Republic (CAR)
Finding acute respiratory illness is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children in sub-Saharan Africa, it has received relatively little attention [1]
Summary
Acute viral respiratory illnesses in children in sub-Saharan Africa have received relatively little attention, they are much more frequent causes of morbidity and mortality than in developed countries. * Correspondence: mirdad.kazanji@pasteur.fr 2Virology department, Institut Pasteur de Bangui, Bangui, Central African Republic Full list of author information is available at the end of the article influenza-like illness in Africa was considered to be negligible [6], mainly because of the lack of confirmation assays. The emergence of the novel influenza A/H1N1 of swine origin in Mexico in April 2009 and its rapid spread worldwide, causing a global pandemic, led the health authorities of the Central African Republic (CAR) to collaborate with the World Health Organization in strengthening biological surveillance of acute respiratory illness.
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