Virus detections among patients with severe acute respiratory illness, Northern Vietnam

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 5; p. e0233117
• Main Authors: Le, Yen H, Nguyen, Khanh C, Coleman, Kristen K, Nguyen, Tham T, Than, Son T, Phan, Hai H, Nguyen, Manh D, Ngu, Nghia D, Phan, Dan T, Hoang, Phuong V M, Trieu, Long P, Bailey, Emily S, Warkentien, Tyler E, Gray, Gregory C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 12-05-2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adenoviruses; Biology and life sciences; Coronaviruses; Death; Demographic aspects; Demographics; Demography; Diagnosis; Diseases; Enrollments; Enteroviruses; Epidemiology; Etiology; Hospital patients; Hospitals; Hygiene; Illnesses; Infection; Infections; Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza B; Medical schools; Medicine and health sciences; Military; Military hospitals; Molecular diagnostic techniques; Morbidity; Pathogenic microorganisms; Patients; People and Places; Preventive medicine; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory tract diseases; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Testing; Virus diseases; Viruses; Vietnam; North Carolina; Singapore; Asia; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233117

Severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) is a major cause of death and morbidity in low- and middle-income countries, however, the etiologic agents are often undetermined due to the lack of molecular diagnostics in hospitals and clinics. To examine evidence for select viral infections among patients with SARI in northern Vietnam, we studied 348 nasopharyngeal samples from military and civilian patients admitted to 4 hospitals in the greater Hanoi area from 2017-2019. Initial screening for human respiratory viral pathogens was performed in Hanoi, Vietnam at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) or the Military Institute of Preventative Medicine (MIPM), and an aliquot was shipped to Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore for validation. Patient demographics were recorded and used to epidemiologically describe the infections. Among military and civilian cases of SARI, 184 (52.9%) tested positive for one or more respiratory viruses. Influenza A virus was the most prevalent virus detected (64.7%), followed by influenza B virus (29.3%), enterovirus (3.8%), adenovirus (1.1%), and coronavirus (1.1%). Risk factor analyses demonstrated an increased risk of influenza A virus detection among military hospital patients (adjusted OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.2-3.2), and an increased risk of influenza B virus detection among patients enrolled in year 2017 (adjusted OR, 7.9; 95% CI, 2.7-22.9). As influenza A and B viruses were commonly associated with SARI and are treatable, SARI patients entering these hospitals would benefit if the hospitals were able to adapt onsite molecular diagnostics.