Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 29144593
Link to HAL – sorbonne-universite-02176394
Link to DOI – 10.1111/irv.12523
Influenza Other Respir Viruses 2019 Jul; 13(4): 398-406
Previous studies reported detection of influenza RNA in stools of patients with seasonal influenza infection. While this detection may have a clinical significance, other factors may influence the stool positivity for influenza viruses.The objective of this study was to investigate demographical, clinical, and microbiological factors which could favor the presence of influenza viral RNA in the stools of patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza infection.Acute respiratory infection (ARI) patients were enrolled by general practitioners (GP) during two winter seasons (2014-2016). Nasopharyngeal swabs, stool specimens, and clinical data were collected. Samples were tested for 12 respiratory pathogen groups (nasopharyngeal and stool specimens) and for 12 enteric pathogens (stool specimens).Among the 331 patients with ARI enrolled by GP, 114 (34.4%) presented influenza infection. Influenza RNA was detected in stool samples of 21% (24/114) of the 114 stool specimens analyzed. Hospitalization (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 7.8 (95% confidence interval (CI)) [1.7-33.7], P = .02), age between 45 and 64 years (aOR = 4.8 [1.7-14.5], P = .01), consumption of raw shellfish and/or mollusks (aOR = 16.7 [3.6-90.9], P = .00), and use of antibiotics (aOR = 6.4 [2.1-19.8], P = .006) or antiviral treatment (aOR = 7.4 [1.9-29], P = .01) were significantly associated with an increased odds of the detection of influenza RNA in stools. Among the 24 stool samples subjected to viral isolation, no one showed virus growth.These findings will be useful to studies investigating the dissemination route of influenza viruses to gastrointestinal tract.