Author Affiliations: Department of Community Medicine, M P Shah Medical College, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India (Chudasama RK); Department of Community Medicine, P D U Medical College, Rajkot, Gujarat, India (Patel UV, Verma PB, Agarwal P, Bhalodiya S, Dholakiya D)

Corresponding Author: Rajesh K Chudasama, Vandana Embroidary, Mato Shree Complex, Sardar Nagar Main Road, Rajkot – 360 001, Gujarat, India (Tel: +91 94284 52080; Fax: +91 281 2455810; Email: dranakonda@yahoo.com; dranakonda@gmail.com)

doi: 10.1007/s12519-012-0376-y

Background: The first case of 2009 pandemic influenza A or H1N1 virus infection in India was reported in May 2009 and in the Saurashtra region in August 2009. We describe the two waves clinico-epidemiological characteristics of children who were hospitalized with 2009 influenza A infection in the Saurashtra region.

Methods: From September 2009 to February 2011, we treated 117 children infected with 2009 influenza A virus who were admitted in different hospitals in Rajkot city. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was used to confirm infection, and the clinico-epidemiological features of the disease were closely monitored.

Results: In the 117 patients, with a median age of 2 years, 59.8% were male. The median time from onset of the disease to influenza A diagnosis was 5 days, and that from onset of the disease to hospitalization was 7 days. The admitted patients took oseltamivir, but only 11.1% of them took it within 2 days after onset of the disease. More than one fourth (29.1%) of the admitted patients died. The most common symptoms of the patients were cough (98.3%), fever (94.0%), sore throat and shortness of breathing. Pneumonia was detected by chest radiography in 80.2% of the patients.

Conclusions: In children with infection-related illness, the survival rate was about 71% after oseltamivir treatment. The median time for virus detection with real-time RT-PCR is 5 days. Early diagnosis and treatment may reduce the severity of the disease.

Key words: antiviral drug; clinical features; epidemiology; influenza A; intensive care

                    World J Pediatr 2012;8(4):321-327