Tracking severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission and co-infection with other acute respiratory pathogens using a sentinel surveillance system in Rift Valley, Kenya.
Influenza Other Respir Viruses
; 17(11): e13227, 2023 Nov.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38019696
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been the most significant public health challenge in over a century. SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 765 million people worldwide, resulting in over 6.9 million deaths. This study aimed to detect community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and monitor the co-circulation of SARS-CoV-2 with other acute respiratory pathogens in Rift Valley, Kenya.METHODS:
We conducted a cross-sectional active sentinel surveillance for the SARS-CoV-2 virus among patients with acute respiratory infections at four sites in Rift Valley from January 2022 to December 2022. One thousand two hundred seventy-one patients aged between 3 years and 98 years presenting with influenza-like illness (ILI) were recruited into the study. Nasopharyngeal swab specimens from all study participants were screened using a reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, influenza B and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).RESULTS:
The samples that tested positive for influenza A (n = 73) and RSV (n = 12) were subtyped, while SARS-CoV-2 (n = 177) positive samples were further screened for 12 viral and seven bacterial respiratory pathogens. We had a prevalence of 13.9% for SARS-CoV-2, 5.7% for influenza A, 2% for influenza B and 1% for RSV. Influenza A-H1pdm09 and RSV B were the most dominant circulating subtypes of influenza A and RSV, respectively. The most common co-infecting pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 29) and Haemophilus influenzae (n = 19), accounting for 16.4% and 10.7% of all the SARS-CoV-2 positive samples.CONCLUSIONS:
Augmenting syndromic testing in acute respiratory infections (ARIs) surveillance is crucial to inform evidence-based clinical and public health interventions.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Respiratory Tract Infections
/
Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human
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Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections
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Influenza, Human
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Coinfection
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Child, preschool
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
Influenza Other Respir Viruses
Journal subject:
VIROLOGIA
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article