Unraveling influenza sentinel surveillance in Pakistan 2008-2024: Epidemiological insights during the pre and post pandemic period of COVID-19

IF 4.7 3区医学 Q1 INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Journal of Infection and Public Health Pub Date : 2024-11-16 DOI:10.1016/j.jiph.2024.102595

Nazish Badar , Muhammad Salman , Nadia Nisar , Hamza Ahmed Mirza , Abdul Ahad , Faisal Ahmad , Bisma Daud

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

The coronavirus pandemic has substantially influenced the transmission pattern of other respiratory viruses. However, screening and detecting other respiratory pathogens was unheeded during this time to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. High virulence and re assortment factors intensify the importance of influenza virus surveillance for effective disease management. Therefore, the present surveillance study was designed to determine the influenza positivity rate from 2008–24. This study will provide integral support in depicting a panoramic representation of two respiratory-pandemic periods, 2010–11 and 2019–2021, for influenza and COVID-19 pandemics, respectively.

Methods

An inferential cross-sectional study was conducted from 2008 to 2024 by collecting influenza surveillance data from twelve sentinel sites in Pakistan. Clinical and demographic data was recorded at sample collection time. Specimens were collected through nasopharyngeal/throat swabs and stored in viral transport medium (VTM) at the sentinel site laboratory at 2‐4 °C. Viral RNA was isolated from the samples using KingFisher TM Flex Purification System and MagMAX™ Viral/Pathogen Nucleic Acid Extraction Kit.

Results

Within 16 years, 78118 samples were tested for influenza, of which 7999 (10.2 %) appeared positive. The positivity rate appeared very low in recent years, with only a 3.5 % positivity rate observed in 2020. Influenza A strain H1N1pdm09 seemed to be the prominent strain (n = 3407, 42.6 %), followed by influenza B (n = 2125, 26.6 %). Conclusion: The positivity of influenza samples was 10.2 % and recorded in patients where typical clinical representation of influenza was absent. Fewer samples were reported during the coronavirus pandemic, which might be because influenza screening was hindered and overlooked to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the patient threshold was very high for COVID-19 virus screening.

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解读 2008-2024 年巴基斯坦流感哨点监测：COVID-19 大流行前后的流行病学见解。

背景：冠状病毒大流行极大地影响了其他呼吸道病毒的传播模式。然而，在应对 COVID-19 大流行期间，对其他呼吸道病原体的筛查和检测却未受到重视。高致病性和再变异因素加剧了流感病毒监测对有效控制疾病的重要性。因此，本监测研究旨在确定 2008-24 年期间的流感阳性率。这项研究将为描绘 2010-11 年和 2019-2021 年两个呼吸道大流行期（分别为流感和 COVID-19 大流行期）的全景提供不可或缺的支持：方法：通过收集巴基斯坦 12 个哨点的流感监测数据，开展了一项从 2008 年到 2024 年的推论性横断研究。样本采集时记录了临床和人口统计学数据。样本通过鼻咽/喉拭子采集，并储存在病毒运输培养基（VTM）中，存放在 2-4 °C的哨点实验室。使用 KingFisher TM Flex 净化系统和 MagMAX™ 病毒/病原体核酸提取试剂盒从样本中分离病毒 RNA：16 年间，共检测了 78118 份流感样本，其中 7999 份（10.2%）呈阳性。近几年的阳性率非常低，2020 年的阳性率仅为 3.5%。甲型流感菌株 H1N1pdm09 似乎是主要的菌株（n = 3407，42.6%），其次是乙型流感（n = 2125，26.6%）：流感样本的阳性率为 10.2%，并且记录在没有典型流感临床表现的患者中。冠状病毒大流行期间报告的样本较少，这可能是因为流感筛查因抗击 SARS-CoV-2 病毒而受到阻碍和忽视，而且 COVID-19 病毒筛查的患者门槛非常高。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Infection and Public Health PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH -INFECTIOUS DISEASES

CiteScore

13.10

自引率

1.50%

发文量

203

审稿时长

96 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Infection and Public Health, first official journal of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences and the Saudi Association for Public Health, aims to be the foremost scientific, peer-reviewed journal encompassing infection prevention and control, microbiology, infectious diseases, public health and the application of healthcare epidemiology to the evaluation of health outcomes. The point of view of the journal is that infection and public health are closely intertwined and that advances in one area will have positive consequences on the other. The journal will be useful to all health professionals who are partners in the management of patients with communicable diseases, keeping them up to date. The journal is proud to have an international and diverse editorial board that will assist and facilitate the publication of articles that reflect a global view on infection control and public health, as well as emphasizing our focus on supporting the needs of public health practitioners. It is our aim to improve healthcare by reducing risk of infection and related adverse outcomes by critical review, selection, and dissemination of new and relevant information in the field of infection control, public health and infectious diseases in all healthcare settings and the community.