The molecular epidemiology of respiratory viruses in military trainees in Iran

Tavakoli, Ahmad; Karbalaie Niya, Mohammad Hadi; Bokharaei-Salim, Farah; Farahmand, Mohammad; Izadi, Morteza; Dorostkar, Ruhollah; Keyvani, Hossein

Study participants were symptomatic military trainees in the basic military training camp of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. All trainees with symptoms of respiratory tract infection including oral temperature of ≥38°C, cough, sore throat, rhinorrhea, etc. referred to the military medical clinic center were included in this study. Exclusion criteria were a prior history of chronic respiratory disease such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), recent antiviral therapy, and military personnel. Those trainees meeting the case definition received a written and verbal briefing and were invited to give voluntary and informed consent to participate. This cross-sectional study was designed to enroll 400 subjects over a period of 3‏ months, from January to March 2017. This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Iran University of Medical Sciences under the Ethics Code IR.IUMS.REC1394.26051. Throat or nasopharyngeal swab specimens of patients were collected by Dacron swabs, placed in viral transport media and stored at −70°C until use.