Abstract

Background: Following the announcement of the Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic by the World Health Organization in April 2009, a surveillance program was carried out in Chile to detect the introduction of the virus in the country and to monitor its propagation and impact. Aim: To describe the onset of the outbreak and the genetic characterization of the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in the first detected cases in Chile. Material and methods: Analysis of18 clinical samples coming from suspicious patients, received in a National Reference Laboratory. RNA reverse transcription and real time influenza gene DNA amplification was carried out in a 7500 Fast and Step One Real Time PCR Systems of Applied Biosystems and MxPro-Mx3000P thermocycler from Stratagene. Super Script III Platinum One-Step Quantitative RT-PCR was used. Results: The virus was first detected in three persons returning from the Dominican Republic via Panamá and a child from the east zone of Santiago. Genetic characterization of the virus showed that the child was infected by a different variant of the pandemic virus than the three persons returning from the Caribbean. Conclusions: The onset of the Influenza outbreak in Chile apparently carne from two different epidemiological groups. The spread of the virus detected in the voyagers was limited immediately However the virus of the fourth case was found in different regions of Chile.