The Epidemiology of Influenza in Children Hospitalized at the Hospital of Sikasso, Mali 2015-2019

Assetou Cissouma,Madou Traoré,Flagnouma Diallo,Adama Mamby Keita,Abdoulaye Kissima-Traoré,Dade Ben Sidi Haidara,Guédiouma Dembélé,Seydou Diarra,Samba Sow,Soumaila Alama Traoré,Djibril Kassogué

doi:10.4236/ojped.2021.113043

Abstract

Introduction: Influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease, highly contagious due to influenza viruses. The objective of this work was to identify, understand the epidemiology of circulating strains and estimate disease transmission. Patients and Methods: The study was carried out in the pediatric department of the Sikasso Hospital. This was a prospective, longitudinal descriptive study over a five-year period (January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019). She was interested in severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) for hospitalized patients in the pediatric department. Results: During the study period the prevalence of severe acute respiratory infections among hospitalized children was 21.85‰. The majority of cases were observed in 2019 with 58 cases, the sex ratio was 1.8. The age group from 0 to 1 was the most represented with 100 cases (48.30%) followed by 2 to 4 years 73 cases (35.24%) and 5 to 15 years 34 cases (16.46%). More than half of the patients lived in rural areas 129 (62.31%). Fever and cough were present in the majority of patients. No children had received influenza vaccination. In study 36 (17.39%) cases were positive for influenza A and B.

Highlights

Influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease, highly contagious due to influenza viruses
Influenza viruses are characterized by their frequent mutations responsible for the emergence of new viral strains for which populations have little or no immunity and these new strains can in turn be responsible for seasonal epidemics or pandemics that are sometimes very severe and deadly [2]
From 2015 to 2019, 9472 patients were hospitalized in the pediatric department of the Sikasso Hospital, including 207 for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) or 21.85‰

Summary

Introduction

Influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease, highly contagious due to influenza viruses. In order to participate effectively in the global response to the risk of an influenza pandemic, the Ministry of Health of Mali, through the CVD-Mali, is committed to improving influenza surveillance through the creation of sentinel sites This effort is supported by WHO and the U.S Government through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Naval Medical Research Unit-3 (NAMRU-3) to enable the implementation of an effective system for the detection of suspected cases and confirmation by state-of-the-art technology (real-time PCR). This sentinel surveillance of influenza at Sikasso Hospital will identify, understand the epidemiology of circulating strains and estimate disease transmission

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion