Characterization of influenza outbreaks in Lebanon during the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons
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World Health Organization
Abstract
Despite the significant burden of influenza outbreaks, active disease monitoring has been largely absent in the Middle East, including Lebanon. In this study we characterized influenza virus in 440 nasopharyngeal swabs collected from patients with acute respiratory infections during two influenza seasons in Lebanon. Influenza A(H3N2) was dominant in the 2013/14 season while the A(H1N1)pdm09 and B/Yamagata strains were most prevalent in the 2014/15 season. All tested isolates were susceptible to 4 neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir, zanamivir, peramivir and laninamivir). Genetic analysis of the haemagglutinin gene revealed multiple introductions of influenza viruses into Lebanon from different geographic sources during each season. Additionally, large data gaps were identified in the Middle East region, as indicated by the lack of current influenza sequences in the database from many countries in the region. © 2016, World Health Organization. STI. All rights reserved.
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Disease outbreaks, Humans, Influenza a virus, h1n1 subtype, Influenza a virus, h3n2 subtype, Influenza, human, Lebanon, Seasons, Antivirus agent, Hemagglutinin, Laninamivir, Oseltamivir, Peramivir, Virus sialidase, Zanamivir, Amino acid substitution, Antigen detection, Antiviral resistance, Antiviral susceptibility, Article, Geographic distribution, Human, Influenza, Influenza a virus (h1n1), Influenza a virus (h1n1) pdm09, Influenza a virus (h3n2), Influenza b virus, Major clinical study, Maximum likelihood method, Nose smear, Phylogeny, Real time polymerase chain reaction, Respiratory tract infection, Seasonal variation, Sequence analysis, Seroprevalence, Virus characterization, Virus isolation, Epidemic, Isolation and purification, Season