Mild infection of a novel H7N9 avian influenza virus in children in Shanghai

Yu, Xuelian; Zhang, Xi; He, Yi; Wu, Huanyu; Gao, Xia; Pan, Qichao; Shen, Jiaren; Zhu, Jianming; Chen, Hongyou; Zhu, Yiyi; Wu, Fan; Wang, Jianwei; Yuan, Zhengan

To address this issue, strengthening case finding, epidemiological investigation and laboratory detection was carried out by the Shanghai Municipal and District Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Surveillance System for Pneumonia of Unexplained Origin and Sentinel Surveillance System for Influenza-like Illness. Once a suspected case of H7N9 infection was identified, the district CDCs conducted the initial field investigations and obtained respiratory specimens, which were shipped to the Influenza Reference Laboratory of the Shanghai municipal CDC for H7N9 laboratory testing. The samples were tested by a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for influenza A (H7N9), according to Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Human Infected Avian Influenza H7N9 Virus Epidemic 7 issued by China National Influenza Center of China CDC. A field investigation team consisting of staff members from the municipal and/or local CDC conducted field investigations of the confirmed cases.