Research and Diagnostic Center, Centers for Disease Control, Taipei, Taiwan.
J Formos Med Assoc. 2012 Feb;111(2):83-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2010.10.001. Epub 2012 Feb 14.
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: In influenza B infection, viral load is believed to be related to the severity of clinical illness. The correlation between viral load and symptoms is not known. We conducted a study to assess the relationship between virus load and clinical features in children infected with influenza B, in the hope that clinical features could be used as surrogate markers of viral load to guide treatment.
Between December 2006 and February 2007, 228 patients with fever and respiratory symptoms were prospectively enrolled in our tertiary hospital-based study. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to determine viral load.
Real-time RT-PCR was positive for influenza B in 76 patients. Using virus culture as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity were 95% and 87%, respectively. Influenza culture positive rate significantly correlated with viral load (p = 0.03). The median copy number of influenza B virus in the 76 RT-PCR positive patients was 9735 copies/ml (range 4.8×10¹-2.0×10⁶ copies/ml). Samples obtained later in the clinical course tended to have lower viral load (p = 0.7), while patient age (p = 0.72) and fever duration (p = 0.96) positively related to viral load. In patients >3 years of age, myalgia was related to statistically lower viral loads (14300 vs. 1180; p = 0.025). Patients with chills tended to have higher viral loads (72450 vs. 7640; p = 0.1). Patients with abdominal pain tended to have lower viral loads (1998 vs. 12550; p = 0.06).
Culture rate positively correlated with viral load. Patients with myalgia had a lower viral load.
背景/目的：在乙型流感感染中，病毒载量被认为与临床疾病的严重程度有关。病毒载量与症状之间的相关性尚不清楚。我们进行了一项研究，以评估乙型流感感染患儿的病毒载量与临床特征之间的关系，希望临床特征可以作为病毒载量的替代标志物来指导治疗。
2006 年 12 月至 2007 年 2 月，我们在一家三级医院对 228 例发热和呼吸道症状患者进行了前瞻性研究。采用实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测病毒载量。
实时 RT-PCR 检测出 76 例乙型流感阳性。以病毒培养为金标准，其灵敏度和特异性分别为 95%和 87%。流感培养阳性率与病毒载量显著相关（p=0.03）。76 例 RT-PCR 阳性患者中乙型流感病毒的中位拷贝数为 9735 拷贝/ml（范围为 4.8×10¹-2.0×10⁶ 拷贝/ml）。病程后期获得的样本病毒载量较低（p=0.7），而患者年龄（p=0.72）和发热持续时间（p=0.96）与病毒载量呈正相关。对于>3 岁的患者，肌痛与病毒载量呈统计学上的负相关（14300 与 1180；p=0.025）。寒战患者的病毒载量较高（72450 与 7640；p=0.1）。腹痛患者的病毒载量较低（1998 与 12550；p=0.06）。
培养阳性率与病毒载量呈正相关。肌痛患者的病毒载量较低。
