Objectives  To investigate the epidemiology of influenza-like illness in high-risk severe population, evaluate the preliminary clinical efficiency of treatment, and provide a basis for early recognition, prevention and control of the disease.

Methods  Collecting the data of severe influenza-like illness high-risk cases first visiting the fever clinics of Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital of Guangdong Province from December 2013 to March 2014. Medical database was established by Excel and SPSS was used for statistical analysis.

Results  The data on the influenza antigen of 140 influenza-like cases were collected, and the antigen was positive in 110 cases (65 males, average 30.37±18.08 year-old), and negative in 30 cases (20 male, average 26.85±23.42 year-old).The history of contacting with live poultries or patients suffered from influenza and the content of hemoglobin in the antigen negative group were higher than those in the positive group (P < 0.05), while the blood platelet count and cough in the antigen negative group (P < 0.01) were lower than those in the positive group.

Conclusions  Majority of influenza-like cases were young males. All cases were characterized by having fever, usually accompanied with cough, headache, muscle and joint pain, runny nose and sore throat. A few of cases might have nausea and diarrhea. Negative influenza antigen screened by throat swabs could not exclude the possibility of influenza. Moreover, early use of anti-virus drugs in doubling dosage might have better Results in high-risk severe cases.