title: Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial viral infections in Malaysia: Demographic and Clinical perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Respiratory infections represent a major public health problem worldwide. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of respiratory syncytial and influenza virus infections and analyzed in respect to demography and clinical perspective. Methods : The specimens were processed by cell culture and immunofluorescent assay (IFA) and real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (rRT-PCR) for detection of respiratory viruses. Results : Out of 505 specimens 189 (37.8%) were positive, in which RSV was positive in 124(24.8%) cases and influenza A was positive in 65(13%) cases. Positive cases for influenza virus A and RSV were analyzed based on demography: age, gender, ethnicity and clinical symptoms. There were no significant differences among gender, ethnicity and clinical symptoms in both RSV and influenza A virus infections. It was observed that children below 3 years of ages were more prone to RSV infections. On the contrary, influenza virus A infected all age groups of humans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RSV infects mostly child below 3 years of age and influenza virus infects all age group. No specificity of RSV and influenza infection in relation to demography.
authors.affiliation: M.M. Rahman, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: K.K. Wong, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: A. Hanafiah, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hanafiah
authors.affiliation: I. Isahak, Department of Medical Sciences,Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University Sains Islam, Malaysia.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Isahak
keywords: Demography; Immuno Fluorescence Technique; Influenza virus; Prevalence; Real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR; Respiratory syncytial virus