Evaluation of influenza patients WHO applied to Akdeniz Üniversity hospital emergency department in the high influenza period in 2019

Introduction: Influenza infection, which has a wide spectrum of symptoms and common in the world, can be self-healing or sometimes it may cause severe complications. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of influenza Type A and Type B virus infections in patients whom the Influenza Virus Detection test was applied in the Emergency Department and to analyze the complications and the mortality during the course of the disease. Material and Methods: This study was conducted as a retrospective cross-sectional single-center study, the patients who were presented to the Akdeniz University Hospital Emergency Department between 01.01.2019-28.02.2019 were recruited. Results: 633 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 60.49 ± 17.33. 325 (51.3%) patients were male and 308 (48.7%) were female. The presenting complaints of the patients were; shortness of breath in 218 (24.8%) patients, fever in 173 (19.7%) patients and cough in 145 (16.5%). The influenza screening test results were positive in 182 patients (28.8%) with influenza type A and 2 (0.3%) patients with influenza type B. Pneumonia developed as a complication in 24 (3.7%) patients, and influenza A and B tests were negative in 8 (1.3%) patients whom died. The patients who died during the follow up period did not have positive Influenza A and B. Conclusion: Pneumonia developed as a complication in 24 (3.7%) of the patients included in the study. The association between the influenza test positivity and pneumonia in these patients are statistically significant (p <0.05). No deaths were observed in any patient who had a positive influenza screening test during this period.