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Overview of influenza virus antiviral resistance in Romania in the last four epidemic seasons – phenotyping, genotyping and molecular analysis study
Gheorghe Necula, Maria E. Mihai, Claudiu E. Sbarcea, Sorin Dinu, Emilia Lupulescu, Emanoil Ceausu, Adrian Streinu-Cercel, Dan F. Mihailescu, Viorel I. Alexandrescu
Abstract: Influenza virus is a major public health problem, having an important socio-economic impact. The primary strategy for fighting against influenza and its complications is annual vaccination. However, in the epidemic season or in the pandemic season, and especially in the period of the time until the production of a pandemic influenza vaccine, the antiviral medication is very useful both for treatment and prophylaxis. Previous studies demonstrated significant differences between the characteristics and the ratio of influenza strains resistant to antivirals, depending on the geographic area and the degree of antiviral medication used. In this study we evaluated the molecular profile of the influenza virus regarding the resistance to antivirals in four consecutive annual influenza epidemic seasons in Romania, using phenotyping, genotyping and molecular methods of analysis. The study was focused on testing the susceptibility to antiviral drugs of influenza viruses using samples from hospitals and from the sentinel surveillance system, for all subtypes of influenza A (H1N1, H3N2, pandemic H1N1) and also influenza B. This study also had the aim of developing, implementing the tools necessary for the rapid detection of known markers or suspected of affecting neuraminidase susceptibility to inhibitors, for national coverage.
Keywords: influenza,pandemic,antivirals,resistance
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Necula G, Mihai ME, Sbarcea CE, Dinu S, Lupulescu E, Ceausu E, et al. Overview of influenza virus antiviral resistance in Romania in the last four epidemic seasons – phenotyping, genotyping and molecular analysis study. Rev Romana Med Lab. 2011;19(3):227-40
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