December 2013 Vol. 1 No. 5

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Full Length Research Paper

Clinical and laboratory characteristics of H1N1 infection in Sulaimani during the global pandemic in 2010

Mohammed O. Mohammed¹*, Kosar M. Ali¹, Ali M. Jabari1¹, Ahmed Saed² and Aumaid U. Uthman³

¹School of Medicine /Faculty of medical science/ University of Sulaimani/Kurdistan- Iraq
²Internist, Director of Medical Emergency Teaching Hospital Sulaimani.
³Department of Microbiology, college of Veterinary medicine/University of Sulaimani/Kurdistan- Iraq

*Corresponding Author's E-mail: dr_m_omer@yahoo.com

Accepted August 27, 2013

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics, risk factors, laboratory investigations and outcome of patients with Influenza A (H1N1) during the Global Pandemic in 2010, and to perform viral sequencing to see if same global strain of H1N1 is responsible to the epidemic at the Centre of Infectious Disease in Sulaimani city. This study conducted between 1st January to 1st March 2010. Patients, who presented with clinical feature of flu and had positive Influenza A rapid test, and proved to have influenza A (H1N1) by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase-chain-reaction(PCR-test) were included in the study. Molecular biology examination of H1N1 has been performed at Kurdistan Centre for Strategic studies and scientific researches. A total of 157 patients were enrolled in the study, 71(45.2%) were males and 86 (54.8%) were females. Most of them were from city of Sulaimani. 37% were smoker and 8% were pregnant. Cough and fever were the common presenting symptoms (92.8% and 66.2% respectively). History of contact with a person with recent Flu infection was positive in 21% of patients. Chest X-rays were abnormal in 28.6% of them. 5 patients died in hospital and the death rate was 3.2%. Single mutation have been detected at amino acid sequence of Haemagglutinin gene 267 changing Valine to Isoleucine. Sulaimani City was part of the H1N1 pandemic in 2010; only 7.6% of the patients had required mechanical ventilation; this was very low compared with other studies, which might reflect early initiation of treatment and good management plan in our Unit. Single mutation have been detected which indicate the possibility of antigenic drift.




Keywords: H1N1, Swine flu, PCR test, Virus sequencing.