Study of influenza C virus infection in France.
From November 2004 to April 2007, specimens were obtained from 2,281 patients with acute respiratory tract illness in Normandy, France. Eighteen strains of influenza C virus were detected in these samples using a combined tissue culture/RT-PCR diagnostic method. Most patients with influenza C virus infection (13/18) were infants or young children (<2 years of age). The most frequent symptoms were fever and cough, and the clinical presentation of influenza C virus infection was similar to that of other respiratory viruses. Thirteen of the 18 infected patients were hospitalized; 3 presented with a severe lower respiratory infection. The hemagglutinin-esterase (HE) gene of 10 isolates was sequenced to determine the lineages of the circulating influenza C viruses. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that most of the isolated strains had an HE gene belonging to the C/Yamagata/26/81-related lineage. These results show that influenza C virus regularly circulates in Normandy and generally causes a mild upper respiratory infection. Because the differential clinical diagnosis of influenza C virus infection is not always easy, it is important to identify viral strains for both patient management and epidemiological purposes.
Gouarin
S
S
Laboratory of Virology, University Hospital, Avenue Georges Clemenceau, Caen Cedex, France. gouarin-s@chu-caen.fr
Vabret
A
A
Dina
J
J
Petitjean
J
J
Brouard
J
J
Cuvillon-Nimal
D
D
Freymuth
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D009982:Gammainfluenzavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D012367:RNA, Viral; C526980:influenza virus hemagglutinin peptide 2 (1-23)