Molecular characterization of a nosocomial outbreak of influenza B virus in an acute care hospital setting.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

To describe a hospital outbreak of influenza B virus (InfB) infection during season 2015/2016 by combining clinical and epidemiological data with molecular methods.

Methods

Twenty patients diagnosed with InfB from a hospital outbreak over a four-week-period were included. Nasopharyngeal samples (NPS) positive for InfB by multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction were sent for lineage typing and whole genome sequencing (WGS). Medical records were reviewed retrospectively for data regarding patient characteristics, localization, exposure and outcome, and assembled into a timeline. In order to find possible connections to the hospital outbreak, all patients with a positive NPS for influenza from the region over an extended time period were also reviewed.

Findings

SUBMITTER: Sansone M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7114871 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature