Background:Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are classified as upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) or lower respiratory tract infections (LRIs). Influenza has an estimated annual attack rate of 5 to 10% in adults and 20 to 30% in children with severe respiratory illness in 3 to 5 million cases and half a million deaths globally. Hence; the present study was conducted for evaluation of influenza virus among children with acute respiratory infections. Materials &Methods:A total of 200 children were enrolled. All the subjects belonged to the age range of 3 years to 15 years. Only those subjects were enrolled which presented with acute respiratory infections. Collection was nasal swabs was done using sterile flocked nylon swabs. Extraction of RNA was done using ELISA technique. Conversion of extracted RNA was done to cDNA. Influenza A virus was detected using PCR according to WHO protocol. All the results were recorded in Microsoft excel sheet and were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS software. Results:The mean age of the patients was 6.3 years. The most common symptoms observed among the patients with acute respiratory tract infection were cough (80%), rhinorrhea (66%) and nasal congestion (62%). The influenza A virus was detected in 30 (15%) samples, and 9 (4.5%) samples were positive for influenza B virus. Conclusion:A significant proportion of children with ARI are affected by influenza virus with type A being more common.