Objective: To investigate the characters and changes of peripheral white blood cells and lymphocyte subsets of patients with pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1) infection and to provide evidences for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of influenza A (H1N1) infection.
Methods: Peripheral white blood cell parameters and the percentages of lymphocyte subsets in acute and recovery phases of 59 cases of influenza A virus (H1N1) infectious patients (42 mild cases and 17 severe cases) were investigated and analyzed, and compared respectively with those of 43 cases of healthy adults as control (HC) and 24 cases of general influenza A virus (no-H1N1) infectious using whole blood cell analysis and flow cytometry.
Results: Peripheral white blood cell counts of mild cases decreased greatly but those of severe cases did not decrease significantly; the neutrophils of severe cases increased significantly in acute phase; similar to general influenza A virus (no-H1N1) infectious, the peripheral lymphocytes, CD3, CD4, CD8 and B cells of all patients with influenza A virus (H1N1) infection decreased greatly in acute phase and quickly recovered in recovery phase; NK and NKT cells absolute counts of severe cases decreased significantly in acute phase, and the decreasing extent of which were more than 20%.
Conclusion: There were similar characteristics of change in peripheral white blood cells and lymphocyte subsets between patients with pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1) infection and general pandemic A virus (No-H1N1); the great decrease of NK and NKT cells absolute counts may suggest the severe tendency of diseases.