Clinical and molecular epidemiology of influenza viruses from Romanian patients hospitalized during the 2019/20 season.

ABSTRACT: Two main mechanisms contribute to the continuous evolution of influenza viruses: accumulation of mutations in the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes (antigenic drift) and genetic re-assortments (antigenic shift). Epidemiological surveillance is important in identifying new genetic variants of influenza viruses with potentially increased pathogenicity and transmissibility. In order to characterize the 2019/20 influenza epidemic in Romania, 1042 respiratory samples were collected from consecutive patients hospitalized with acute respiratory infections in the National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Prof. Dr. Matei Balș", Bucharest Romania and tested for influenza A virus, influenza B virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by real-time PCR. Out of them, 516 cases were positive for

SUBMITTER: Miron VD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8589178 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature