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

A total of 400 Iranian military trainees with clinical diagnostic criteria for respiratory infection were enrolled in the survey. All participants were male, with a mean age of 21.69 ± 4.9 years (range from 18 to 57 years). Most prevalent complaints of patients referred to the military medical clinic center were sore throat (n=302; 75.5%), rhinorrhea (n=253; 63.2%), cough (n=237; 59.2%), fever (n=237; 59.2%), and nasal congestion (n=202; 50.5%) (Fig. 1). Of the 400 samples, 124 (31%) were positive for respiratory viruses. Human rhinovirus (n=29; 7.2%), human respiratory syncytial virus A (n=29; 7.2%), and influenza B virus (n=24; 6%) were the most frequently detected respiratory viruses in our study, followed by bocavirus (n=12; 3%), influenza A H1N1 (n=9; 2.2%), influenza A H3N2 (n=6; 1.5%), human respiratory syncytial virus B (n=6; 1.5%), adenovirus (n=6; 1.5%), and human coronavirus 229E (n=3; 0.7%). Other viruses including influenza C virus, human parainfluenza viruses, metapneumovirus, and echovirus have not been detected in any of the samples (Table 1, Fig. 2). It's worth noting that no co-infections were detected in our study. The most cases of dyspnea (n=5; 62.5%) were in the group of patients with respiratory syncytial viruses A and B, followed by influenza B (n=2; 25%) and coronavirus 229E (n=1; 12.5%). Sore throat and rhinorrhea were the most frequent symptoms in rhinovirus infection. The most cases of myalgia were seen in influenza B (n=5; 62.5%) and influenza A H1N1 (n=3; 37.5%) infections, respectively (Table 1).