Relative Frequency of Influenza A/H1N1 Virus in Guilan Province, Iran

Influenza A/H1N1, the cause of an acute respiratory illness, undergoes genetic changes every few years, resulting in a new subtype with new surface antigenic structure. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of influenza A/H1N1 virus among specimens collected from patients with influenza symptoms who were admitted to educational and training hospitals in Guilan province, Iran.
This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on upper respiratory tract discharges of patients with influenza symptoms in the counties of Guilan province, using Real-Time PCR technique in Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases Research Center of Gilan University of Medical Sciences in 2015. The Fishers Exact Test or chi-square χ)2( was used for data analysis.
From 108 patients with influenza symptoms, 58 (53/7%) were female. The age range of patients was between 1-78 years old. The results showed that only 4 (3/7%) patients were positive for A/H1N1virus (3 male and 1 female). This included a male who was admitted with pneumonia and expired later.
Influenza virus A/H1N1 is a mutant virus, the genetic evolution in which is constantly occurring and new subtypes can, therefore, re-infect the community. It is thus imperative that vaccination is done to prevent against novel strains of influenza.