title: [Epidemiological study of clinical backgrounds of influenza patients in an open hospital of Yokohama City in the last ten years].
abstract: The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced in March, 2011 that it shifts to the usual measure against influenza about the pandemic influenza which occurred in 2009. Since epidemic finished, I thought that the surveillance about the measure against infection control was required. In this study we performed an epidemiological investigation of the clinical backgrounds of influenza patients over the last ten years. The number of patients with influenza in the 2009-2010 season was 751 (455 children: under sixteen years old and 296 adults). In seasons covering the last ten years, the majority of patients were children, while the number of adult patients counted fell in second place. Over the last ten years the average ages of the patients were 8.20 +/- 4.00 years for the children and 31.11 +/- 13.46 for the adults. Furthermore, in the investigation of the methods for using the anti-influenza medications (oseltamivir or Zanamivir), the number of patients who used anti-influenza medications in the 2009-2010 season amounted to 517 children and 345 adults. Among these, 87 children (16.8%) and 37 adults (10.7%), i.e., a total of 124 patients (14.3%), took the anti-flu medications although their antigen test results were negative. In the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, almost no anti-influenza medications had been used in those cases in which the antigen test results came out negative. The epidemic of the new type of influenza was a special epidemic condition; its effects extended to reviewing the method of using anti-influenza medications. Highly accurate surveillance is needed to solve the problem, and the responsibility of laboratories, the main source of information, is important.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Kanagawa Prefectural Shiomidai Hospital, Yokohama 235-0022, Japan. y.tsujihara@shiomidai-hosp.jp
authors.forename: Yoshito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsujihara
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058873:Pandemics; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents