Influenza C virus–associated community‐acquired pneumonia in children

To evaluate the impact of influenza C (ICV) infection in children with community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP), all of the children consecutively seen during 4 influenza seasons with respiratory symptoms and radiographically confirmed CAP were prospectively evaluated. ICV was identified in the respiratory secretions of five of 391 patients (1·3%). In children with ICV‐associated CAP, clinical data were similar to those observed in children with IAV‐associated CAP and worse than those observed in children with IBV‐associated. The phylogenetic tree showed that the sequenced strains clustered in two of the six ICV lineages. These findings highlight that ICV can be a cause of CAP of children and that this can be severe enough to require hospitalization.