ABSTRACT
@#The first case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the Republic of Korea was confirmed in May 2015 after a traveller returned from the Middle East. There were 186 cases, including 38 deaths, within two months. The potential of a single MERS-confirmed patient to result in such a large MERS outbreak constitutes a serious global health concern.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Influenza is a respiratory disease which prevails widely every year and shows high morbidity and mortality among not only chronic invalids and the old, but also among infants and young children. To prevent community-acquired influenza infection, to facilitate prompt antiviral therapy and to avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics, an easy, rapid diagnostic method for the influenza virus is needed. We evaluated a lateral-flow immunoassay (QuickVue Influenza Test), compared to viral culture. METHODS: During two consecutive years from Jan. 2004 to June 2004 and from Feb. 2005 to Jan. 2005, 408 patients who were suffering from fever, cough and/or sore throat and myalgia were enrolled in our study. A total of 408 patients were tested with QuickVue (R) (Quidel Co., San Diego, USA) influenza rapid antigen test and virus cultures at the same time. RESULTS: Of the 408 patients tested, children who showed positive results at the virus culture numbered 77; among them, 55 (71.4 percent) were type A/H3N2 and 22 (28.5 percent) were type B. QuickVue influenza test had a sensitivity of 71.4 percent and a specificity of 95.8 percent. The positive and negative predictive values were 79.7 percent and 93.5 percent, respectively. CONCLUSION: In our study, this test had comparable high sensitivity and high specificity and many advantages, such as being easy to perform and simple to interpret, and showing rapid results. If rapid influenza antigen tests are widely applied in the clinic, we can begin treatment more rapidly and reduce influenza complications and the abuse of antibiotics.
Subject(s)
Infant , Child , Male , Female , Humans , Mortality , Predictive Value of TestsABSTRACT
Influenza is an important public health problem in almost every winter of temperate countries, and is often associated with increased rates of hospitalization and death. In 1999, we started influenza surveillance with 4 voluntary sentinel physicians and the Public Health Center. From 1999 through 2003, 74 influenza viruses were isolated from 738 clinical specimens, which were collected from patients with Influenza like illness (ILI) in Seoul. The case definition for ILI was a fever over 38degrees C and systemic symptoms such as cough, or sore throat. ILI was the highest, 35.5% at the 20~49 age group and the rate of virus isolation was the highest, 20.6% at the 7~19 age group. Among isolated 74 influenza viruses, four of them were identified as A/H3N2 type in 1999-2000 season, seven of them were A/H3N2 in 2000-2001 season, fourteen were A/H1N1 in the 2001-2002 season and others were subtyped as influenza A/H3N2 viruses in the 2002-2003 season. Influenza viruses were collected 18.9% at Seocho-Gu, 18.8% at Dongjak-Gu and 7.6% at KangbukGu etc. and the isolate rate of virus had the area difference; Gwangjin-Gu 66%, Eunpyeong-Gu 65.6% Gangnam-Gu 20.0%, Kangbuk-Gu 19.6%. These findings may contribute towards the recommondation on the influenza vaccine formulation and development of influenza control measure based on the analyzed data.