ABSTRACT
Aim: To access the proportion of Infl uenza which caused SARI cases Methods: From April 2008 until March 2009, 549 samples of nasal and throat swabs were collected from SARI patients from eight hospitals in eight provinces in Indonesia. The samples were analyzed for Infl uenza by real-time RT-PCR method using several specifi c primers for infl uenza A (A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and A/H5N1) and Infl uenza B. The sequence of these primers was provided by CDC, Atlanta. Results: We found 516 (94%) of the specimens testing results were not infl uenza A or B viruses. There was 21 (4%) cases caused by infl uenza A and 12 (2%) caused by infl uenza B. From the infl uenza A cases, one case of SARI was caused by A/H1N1, two cases were A/H5N1, 17 cases were A/H3N2 and one case was unsubtypeable Infl uenza A. Conclusion: The majority of SARI cases were not caused by infl uenza viruses. From this surveillance the most common infl uenza A related to SARI is A/H3N2. Facts of the avian infl uenza virus A/H5N1 cases have been found in Indonesia and the spread of novel virus infl uenza A/H1N1 in 2009 raised our concern about the importance of SARI surveillance.