Provincial Laboratory for Public Health, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2013 Nov;7(6):954-60. doi: 10.1111/irv.12099. Epub 2013 Feb 27.
Influenza C virus can cause both upper and lower respiratory tract infections and has been reported to be prevalent in children. However, these infections have been under-diagnosed, and epidemiological data available are limited due to the lack of convenient detection assays.
Design and validate a real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR (rt RT-PCR) assay for the detection of influenza C.
Respiratory samples from two primary settings, namely, children who were hospitalized or seen in the emergency department, and respiratory outbreaks for which no other viral etiology was found were used for the detection of influenza C.
The assay was sensitive and specific for the detection of influenza C. Eleven of 474 (2·32%) patients, all less than 10 years of age, were positive for influenza C. The strains clustered into two lineages, namely C/Kanagawa and C/Sao Paulo, based upon sequencing of the hemagglutinin-esterase gene. Epidemiological data showed that a higher proportion of influenza C infections occur in younger children and during the winter months. This is the first report of the detection of influenza C in Alberta, Canada, and suggests that the detection of this virus should be included in respiratory virus testing panels.
C 型流感病毒可引起上呼吸道和下呼吸道感染，已被报道在儿童中普遍存在。然而，由于缺乏便捷的检测方法，这些感染一直被漏诊，且现有的流行病学数据有限。
设计并验证一种用于检测 C 型流感的实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（rt RT-PCR）检测方法。
本研究从两个主要环境中采集呼吸道样本，即住院或在急诊就诊的儿童，以及未发现其他病毒病因的呼吸道暴发。
该检测方法对 C 型流感的检测具有敏感性和特异性。474 名患者中，有 11 名（2.32%）小于 10 岁的患者 C 型流感检测呈阳性。根据血凝素-酯酶基因的测序结果，这些病毒株分为两个谱系，即 C/神奈川和 C/圣保罗。流行病学数据显示，C 型流感感染更多发生在年幼的儿童和冬季。这是加拿大艾伯塔省首次检测到 C 型流感，提示应将该病毒的检测纳入呼吸道病毒检测组合中。
