Influenza is more common than Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) among hospitalized adult Saudi patients

BACKGROUND: Since the initial description of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), we adopted a systematic process of screening patients admitted with community acquired pneumonia. Here, we report the result of the surveillance activity in a general hospital in Saudi Arabia over a four year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All admitted patients with community acquired pneumonia from 2012 to 2016 were tested for MERS-CoV. In addition, testing for influenza viruses was carried out starting April 2015. RESULTS: During the study period, a total of 2657 patients were screened for MERS-CoV and only 20 (0.74%) tested positive. From January 2015 to December 2016, a total of 1644 patients were tested for both MERS-CoV and influenza. None of the patients tested positive for MERS-CoV and 271 (16.4%) were positive for influenza. The detected influenza viruses were Influenza A (107, 6.5%), pandemic 2009 H1N1 (n = 120, 7.3%), and Influenza B (n = 44, 2.7%). Pandemic H1N1 was the most common influenza in 2015 with a peak in peaked October to December and influenza A other than H1N1 was more common in 2016 with a peak in August and then October to December. CONCLUSIONS: MERS-CoV was a rare cause of community acquired pneumonia and other viral causes including influenza were much more common. Thus, admitted patients are potentially manageable with Oseltamivir or Zanamivir therapy.