Journal of Clinical Virology - Volume 82 - Supplement 1 - September 2016

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Abstracts / Journal of Clinical Virology 82S (2016) S1–S142 S129
Abstract no: 62
Presentation at ESCV 2016: Poster 218
Surveillance of a severe A(H1N1)pdm09
dominated influenza season in N. Greece,
2015–2016
Angeliki Melidou∗, Maria Exindari,
Georgia Gioula, Nikolaos Malisiovas
National Influenza Centre for N. Greece, Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Objects of the research: The objective was the epidemiological
and virological analysis of a severe influenza A(H1N1)pdm09-
dominated season, 2015–2016 in N. Greece.
Materials and methods: 686 pharyngeal swabs/washes from
patients with influenza-like-illness were tested up to week
17. Influenza viruses were typed and their haemaglutinin was
sequenced. (CDC andWHO protocols). All of the samples were non-
sentinel, mostly originating from outpatient and inpatient hospital
clinics.
Results: 246 samples were positive for influenza. A and B
viruses were detected in 220 and 24 samples respectively. B
viruses appeared during the first and the last weeks of the sea-
son. Out of the A viruses, 206 were H1N1pdm09 and 8 were
H3N2. Molecular analysis of B viruses revealed that B-Victoria
lineage viruses dominated this season. A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses
were A/California/7/2009(H1N1)pdm09-like, but with accumulat-
ing variations at antigenic and other HA sites, that designated them
into two distinct phylogenetic clades, 6B.1 and 6B.2.
Samples ranged between 0 and 86 years of age, with an aver-
age 40.6 years. Sixty-seven ICU patients had an average age of 54.5
years and in all of themA(H1N1)pdm09was detected andmost suf-
fered from underlying medical conditions, were obese or pregnant.
Most common complications were ARDS and pneumonia. In total,
39 fatalities have been reported in northern Greece. All of them
were attributed to A(H1N1)pdm09. Interestingly, 6 of the dece-
dents did not suffer from any underlying medical condition, 10 of
those were obese (26.%) and 25 were suffering from cardiological
problems (64%). Complications and underlying medical conditions
are mentioned in detail in Table 1.
Conclusions: Compared to the findings from previous studies
from Greece, it seems that it was a severe A(H1N1)pdm09-
dominated influenza season. This subtype seems to cause more
severe influenza illness, in a younger age group, more often caus-
ing hospitalization to otherwise healthy individuals. Circulating
strains are increasingly more divergent. Our findings confirmed
the genetic instability of influenza type A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses and
highlighted the importance of continuous surveillance for the effec-
tive management of viral epidemics. Variation observed in Greek
and also in European B viruses prompted WHO to change the B
vaccine component to B/Victoria.
Abstract no: 69
Presentation at ESCV 2016: Poster 219
Enhancement of respiratory virus isolation
from specimens using centrifugation and
interferon inhibitors
HanSaem Lee∗, A.-Reum Kim, Woo-Jung Park,
Sung Han Park, You-Jin Kim, Jeong-Gu Nam,
Sung Soon Kim
Korea Institute of Health, Republic of Korea
Virus isolation from clinical specimens is inevitable to identify
the etiological agent and to investigate the epidemiological analy-
sis. In addition, the viruses isolated are used as important sources
in the fields from the basic research to the bioindustry, includ-
ing therapeutics, and vaccines. However, the respiratory viruses
in clinical specimens are not easily isolated in cell cultures. Thus,
methods to speed or enhance virus isolation are urgently required.
Many previous reports have proved that centrifugation during
virus inoculation to cells increased virus yields and speeded the
virus detection time. Recently, interferon inhibitors treatment has
also been used to enhance virus infection by blocking the expres-
sion of interferons, modulators inhibiting virus replication in cells.
We used interferon inhibitors with centrifuged cultures for the
detection of metapneumovirus, human respiratory syncytial virus,
and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Combination
of centrifugation and interferon inhibitor treatment significantly
increased the virus replication and viruses detected earlier than the
routine method. We also test and compare the virus isolation rates
between the centrifugation/interferon inhibitor treatment culture
and the mock-treated culture.
Abstract no: 74
Presentation at ESCV 2016: Poster 220
Molecular characterisation of human
coronaviruses from patients with respiratory
disease in Slovenia
Monika Jevˇsnik ∗, Ivan Toplak ,
Miroslav Petrovec
1 Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty
of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
2 Virology Unit, Veterinary Faculty, University of
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Background: Coronaviruses (CoVs) are the largest enveloped
single-strand RNA viruses and belong to the Coronaviridae family
in the Nidovirales order and are divided into four genera named
Alphacoronaviruses, Betacoronaviruses (divided into the four clades
A to D), Deltacoronaviruses and Gammacoronaviruses, based on the
phylogenetic distance of highly conserved domains. Until now six
human coronaviruses have been identified and HCoV-OC43 is the
most common human coronavirus and has high genetically diver-
sity. Five genotypes of HCoV-OC43 (A to E) have been identified
and genotype D has been dominant from 2004 to 2012. Until now
only 90 complete genome sequences of HCoV-OC43 were available
in GenBank. In this study, we investigate of the presence of differ-
ent genotypes among HCoVs strains and comparison their potential
similarity.
Methods: Patients hospitalized with acute respiratory tract
infections were included in the study. All nasopharyngeal swabs
were sent to the laboratory of the Institute of Microbiology