Detection of coronavirus disease 2019 in patients presenting with influenza-like illness

BACKGROUND Influenza is an important public health concern. A national surveillance system that easily and rapidly detects influenza epidemics is lacking. OBJECTIVE We assumed that the rate of influenza-like illness (ILI) related-claims is similar to the current ILI surveillance system. METHODS We used the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Patient Samples (HIRA-NPS), 2014-2018. We defined ILI-related claims as outpatient claims that contain both antipyretic and antitussive agents and calculated the weekly rate of ILI-related claims. We compared ILI-related claims and weekly ILI rates from clinical sentinel surveillance data. RESULTS We observed a strong correlation between the two surveillance systems each season. The absolute thresholds for the four-years were 84.64 and 86.19 cases claims per 1,000 claims for claims data and 12.27 and 16.82 per 1,000 patients for sentinel data (Figure 5). Both the claims and sentinel data surpassed the epidemic thresholds each season. The peak epidemic in the claims data was reached one to two weeks later than in the sentinel data. The epidemic patterns were more similar in the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons than the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons. CONCLUSIONS Based on hospital reports, ILI-related claims rates were similar to the ILI surveillance system. ILI claims data can be loaded to a drug utilization review system in Korea to make an influenza surveillance system.

Download Full-text

Assessment of the influenza-like illness virologic surveillance in the Philippines, 2018

International Journal of Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.923 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 101 ◽

pp. 352

Author(s):

D.L. Manalili ◽

A. de Guzman ◽

V.C. de Los Reyes ◽

M.N. Sucaldito

Keyword(s):

The Philippines ◽

Influenza Like Illness

Download Full-text

Enabling Near Real-time Surveillance of Influenza-like Illness

Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference ◽

10.1145/3373017.3373048 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mehnaz Adnan ◽

Ben Waite ◽

Richard Dean ◽

Claire Newbern ◽

Tim Wood ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Influenza Like Illness

Download Full-text

Structural Mapping of Mutations in Spike, RdRp and Orf3a Genes of SARS-CoV-2 in Influenza Like Illness (ILI) Patients

Viruses ◽

10.3390/v13010136 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 136

Author(s):

Bandar Alosaimi ◽

Asif Naeem ◽

Majed F. Alghoribi ◽

Lilian Okdah ◽

Maaweya E. Hamed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Surveillance Systems ◽

Case Definitions ◽

Structural Mapping ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Influenza Like Illness ◽

Spike Gene ◽

Ambulatory Patients ◽

Community Transmission ◽

Next Generation Sequencing Ngs ◽

Epidemiological Link

In December 2019, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in China led to a pandemic. Since both Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and COVID-19 case definitions overlap, we re-investigated the ILI cases using PCR for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in 739 nasopharyngeal swabs collected from November 2019 to March 2020. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found in 37 samples (5%) collected mostly during February 2020. It was followed by confirmation of evolutionary and spatial relationships using next generation sequencing (NGS). We observed that the overall incidence of ILI cases during 2019–2020 influenza season was considerably higher than previous years and was gradually replaced with SARS-CoV-2, which indicated a silent transmission among ambulatory patients. Sequencing of representative isolates confirmed independent introductions and silent transmission earlier than previously thought. Evolutionary and spatial analyses revealed clustering in the GH clade, characterized by three amino acid substitutions in spike gene (D614G), RdRp (P323L) and NS3 (Q57H). P323L causes conformational change near nsp8 binding site that might affect virus replication and transcription. In conclusion, assessment of the community transmission among patients with mild COVID-19 illness, particularly those without epidemiological link for acquiring the virus, is of utmost importance to guide policy makers to optimize public health interventions. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 in ILI cases shows the importance of ILI surveillance systems and warrants its further strengthening to mitigate the ongoing transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The effect of NS3 substitutions on oligomerization or membrane channel function (intra- and extracellular) needs functional validation.

Download Full-text

Cumulative Effects of Particulate Matter Pollution and Meteorological Variables on the Risk of Influenza-Like Illness

Viruses ◽

10.3390/v13040556 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 556

Author(s):

Kacper Toczylowski ◽

Magdalena Wietlicka-Piszcz ◽

Magdalena Grabowska ◽

Artur Sulik

Keyword(s):

Particulate Matter ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Nonlinear Models ◽

Absolute Humidity ◽

Influenza Viruses ◽

Meteorological Variables ◽

Exponential Relationship ◽

Influenza Like Illness ◽

Air Temperatures ◽

The Impact

The cold season is usually accompanied by an increased incidence of respiratory infections and increased air pollution from combustion sources. As we are facing growing numbers of COVID-19 cases caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, an understanding of the impact of air pollutants and meteorological variables on the incidence of respiratory infections is crucial. The incidence of influenza-like illness (ILI) can be used as a close proxy for the circulation of influenza viruses. Recently, SARS-CoV-2 has also been detected in patients with ILI. Using distributed lag nonlinear models, we analyzed the association between ILI, meteorological variables and particulate matter concentration in Bialystok, Poland, from 2013–2019. We found an exponential relationship between cumulative PM2.5 pollution and the incidence of ILI, which remained significant after adjusting for air temperatures and a long-term trend. Pollution had the greatest effect during the same week, but the risk of ILI was increased for the four following weeks. The risk of ILI was also increased by low air temperatures, low absolute humidity, and high wind speed. Altogether, our results show that all measures implemented to decrease PM2.5 concentrations would be beneficial to reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections.

Download Full-text