- JMM Profile: Swine influenza A virus: a neglected virus with pandemic potential. [Journal Article]J Med Microbiol. 2023 Jan; 72(1)JM
- Swine influenza is an acute respiratory disease of swine caused by swine influenza A virus (SwIAV). The ability of SwIAV to spread bidirectionally from animals to humans (zoonotic), and from humans to animals (reverse zoonotic), drives coinfection that can result in gene segment exchange and elevates the risk of generating viruses with pandemic potential. Compared to human-origin influenza A viru…
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- Using clinical surveillance software to support effective infection prevention and control for managing COVID-19. [Journal Article]Br J Nurs. 2023 Jan 26; 32(2):52-56.BJ
- The speed, severity and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts at hospitals worldwide. Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Dorchester had an established pandemic plan, which had been developed in response to the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic in 2009. However, the COVID-19 pandemic developed to a level that modern health care had not seen be…
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- Kinetics and magnitude of viral RNA shedding as indicators for Influenza A virus transmissibility in ferrets. [Journal Article]
- The ferret transmission model is routinely used to evaluate the pandemic potential of newly emerging influenza A viruses. However, concurrent measurement of viral load in the air is typically not a component of such studies. To address this knowledge gap, we measured the levels of virus in ferret nasal washes as well as viral RNA emitted into the air for 14 diverse influenza viruses, encompassing…
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- A Bivalent Live Attenuated Influenza Virus Vaccine Protects against Drifted H1N2 and H3N2 Clinical Isolates in Swine. [Journal Article]
- Influenza A viruses (IAVs) can cause a highly contagious respiratory disease for many mammalian species. In pigs, IAVs cause high morbidity and low mortality disease in susceptible populations that can have significant financial and production impacts. They can also present opportunities for mutations and gene reassortment, producing influenza strains with pandemic potential. Therefore, it is ver…
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- Alveolar Macrophages Participate in the Promotion of Influenza Virus Infection by Aflatoxin B1 at an Early Stage. [Journal Article]
- Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), one of the most common environmental mycotoxin contaminations in food and feed, poses significant threats to human and animal health. Our previous study indicated that even non-toxic AFB1 concentrations could promote influenza virus replication and induce influenza virus-infected alveolar macrophages polarizing from M1 (immunostimulatory phenotype) to M2 (immunosuppressive ph…
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- Oseltamivir-resistant h1n1 influenza virus: Case report. [Case Reports]J Pak Med Assoc. 2022 Oct; 72(10):2112-2113.JP
- Swine flu is mainly caused by influenza virus strain H1N1. This strain of influenza has been found to cause seasonal flu. Animals are common source of influenza virus, in particular, pigs. Transmissions from animals to humans are reported on several occasions worldwide. These cases are usually mild to moderate in nature and are usually not fatal. Here we describe the case of a healthy woman from …
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- Prehospital Cardiac Arrest should be considered when evaluating Covid-19 mortality in the United States. [Journal Article]Methods Inf Med. 2023 Jan 18 [Online ahead of print]MI
- CONCLUSIONS: Prehospital EMS data should be considered when evaluating the severity of Covid-19 because prehospital cardiac arrest known to EMS was the strongest predictor on average across indices. Key Words Random Forest Covid-19 Public Health Statistical methods Syndromic Surveillance 1.Introduction Creating long term, multi-source, national surveillance data services for emerging disease response is a complex topic which Covid-19 has given new importance1-5. Public health emergencies seldom leave surplus time or resources to stand up novel methods and respond; further essentializing (specific) disease preparedness6-8. More often than not epidemic response is managed using preexisting data services, often legacy data series from yesteryear's epidemics9-11. Epidemic preparedness in the United States is generally weak; and the Covid-19 response is largely drawn from preexisting pan-flu emergency plans12,13. During a public health emergency, the clinical knowledge needed to respond is developed by case surveillance drawn from preexisting data series. Covid-19 has presented an unusual opportunity to evaluate agreement across surveillance efforts within the United States. The ability to detect clinical findings from surveillance nets and epidemiology methods which were not necessarily designed to detect them in meaningful ways is high priority for the future management of emerging infectious diseases. Strikingly the difference in Covid-19 mortality for SARS impacted countries (China, South Korea, Australia) vs. the United States may come down to what emergency response plan was last implemented (SARS vs. Swine Flu) and the fitness of surveillance (case specific vs general population) rather than deeper cultural, economic, or racial differences, as have been proposed in popular media14-20. 2.Objectives In this study public health surveillance data is processed using a machine learning approach to discover the relative agreement of a surveillance event series when predicting surveillance event series. Towards objectives this study seeks to assess the agreement between event series and contrast the value of traditional surveillance methods (death certificates, influenza and respiratory infection claims volumes) with non-traditional sources such as national Emergency Medical Services (EMS) call volume data in the Covid-19 era in the United States. 3.Methods 3.1 Statistic of Interest Variable importance is the statistic of interest in this study. Variable importance means that when predicting the dependent variable, an independent variable which is of comparatively higher predictive value (association) than another is of higher (predictive) use value. When considering high variable importance with weekly event series data, series which help the machine learning models learn, predict or guess the correct dependent weekly event series could be co-occurring or mutually observed events. The high variable importance scores from different sources suggests that series are observing the same real world event across surveillance efforts as they support prediction better than noise and other candidate series (other independent variables). Of special interest are 'high variable importance, independent variables' from a different data source than the dependent variable. High same source variables are most likely high in value because they are similarly distributed across study weeks to their parent-sister series and in turn are not necessarily interesting. A series of events can be said to have 'agreement value' if it has high statistical agreement with other series from a different source. Low statistical agreement suggests 'out of era' events, or events which are not driven by the same causes as other series considered here. Towards noise and disagreement, influenza and respiratory infection claims volumes are considered below with Covid-19 claims volumes. Claims volumes are traditionally used in influenza surveillance. As a test of the efficacy of the models described here, Covid-19 volumes should be able to 'out perform' influenza volumes as the Covid-19 era is largely understood to be influenza sparse. In this way respiratory and influenza events could be understood as a control arm as well as a model output of independent interest.
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- Utility of Human In Vitro Data in Risk Assessments of Influenza A Virus Using the Ferret Model. [Journal Article]
- As influenza A viruses (IAV) continue to cross species barriers and cause human infection, the establishment of risk assessment rubrics has improved pandemic preparedness efforts. In vivo pathogenicity and transmissibility evaluations in the ferret model represent a critical component of this work. As the relative contribution of in vitro experimentation to these rubrics has not been closely exam…
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- Human Immunity and Susceptibility to Influenza A(H3) Viruses of Avian, Equine, and Swine Origin. [Journal Article]
- Influenza A viruses (IAVs) of subtype H3 that infect humans are antigenically divergent from those of birds, horses, and swine. Human immunity against these viruses might be limited, implying potential pandemic risk. To determine human risk, we selected 4 avian, 1 equine, and 3 swine IAVs representing major H3 lineages. We tested serum collected during 2017-2018 from 286 persons in Belgium for he…
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- Effect of BIO-PLYTM, a Platelet-Rich Plasma Derived Biologic on PRRSV-2-Infected Macrophages. [Journal Article]
- Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is the one of the most devastating diseases impacting the swine industry worldwide. Control and prevention methods rely on biosafety measures and vaccination. As an RNA virus with a high rate of mutation, vaccines are only partially effective against circulating and newly emerging strains. To reduce the burden of this disease, research on alter…
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- Seroprevalence of Influenza A Virus in Dromedaries in North-Western Nigeria. [Journal Article]
- Although influenza A virus is endemic in wild waterfowl, domestic poultry, swine, humans, bats, cetaceans, dogs, and horses, there is a paucity of data on the potential role of camels in zoonotic transmission of the virus. To estimate the seroprevalence of the influenza A virus in camel populations, four local government areas of Nigeria that share an international border with the Niger Republic …
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- Pathogenicity and anti-infection immunity of animal H3N2 and H6N6 subtype influenza virus cross-species infection with tree shrews. [Journal Article]Virus Res. 2023 Jan 15; 324:199027.VR
- Animal influenza viruses can spread across species and pose a fatal threat to human health due to the high pathogenicity and mortality. Animal models are crucial for studying cross-species infection and the pathogenesis of influenza viruses. Tupaia belangeri (tree shrew) has been emerging as an animal model for multiple human virus infections recently because of the close genetic relationship and…
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- Evolutionary and temporal dynamics of emerging influenza D virus in Europe (2009-22). [Journal Article]
- Influenza D virus (IDV) is an emerging influenza virus that was isolated for the first time in 2011 in the USA from swine with respiratory illness. Since then, IDV has been detected worldwide in different animal species, and it was also reported in humans. Molecular epidemiological studies revealed the circulation of two major clades, named D/OK and D/660. Additional divergent clades have been de…
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- Influx of Backyard Farming with Limited Biosecurity Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Carries an Increased Risk of Zoonotic Spillover in Cambodia. [Journal Article]Microbiol Spectr. 2022 Dec 14 [Online ahead of print]MS
- Backyard farming with limited biosecurity creates a massive potential for zoonotic spillover. Cambodia, a developing nation in Southeast Asia, is a hub for emerging and endemic infectious diseases. Due to pandemic-induced job losses in the tourism sector, rumors suggest that many former Cambodian tour guides have turned to backyard farming as a source of income and food security. A cross-sectiona…
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- WildHealthNet: Supporting the development of sustainable wildlife health surveillance networks in Southeast Asia. [Journal Article]Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 10; 863:160748.ST
- Wildlife and wildlife interfaces with people and livestock are essential surveillance targets to monitor emergent or endemic pathogens or new threats affecting wildlife, livestock, and human health. However, limitations of previous investments in scope and duration have resulted in a neglect of wildlife health surveillance (WHS) systems at national and global scales, particularly in lower and mid…
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- Synergistic HA and NS mutations enhanced the virulence of a mouse-adapted H1N1 influenza A virus. [Journal Article]Vet Microbiol. 2023 Jan; 276:109615.VM
- H1N1 reassortants between the swine Eurasian avian-like (EA) and H1N1 2009 pandemic (H1N1 pdm/09) viruses have been circulating stably in pig populations for more than ten years, and they may have contributed to increased human infections. Whether these H1N1 viruses acquire adaptive mutations to increase their pathogenicity towards a new host is unknown. To address this problem, mouse-adapted (MA…
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- Evolution and Introductions of Influenza A Virus H1N1 in a Farrow-to-Finish Farm in Guatemala. [Journal Article]Microbiol Spectr. 2022 Dec 07 [Online ahead of print]MS
- Commercial swine farms provide unique systems for interspecies transmission of influenza A viruses (FLUAVs) at the animal-human interface. Bidirectional transmission of FLUAVs between pigs and humans plays a significant role in the generation of novel strains that become established in the new host population. Active FLUAV surveillance was conducted for 2 years on a commercial pig farm in Souther…
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- Genetic characterization and pathogenicity of a Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza reassortant virus. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: A/swine/Heilongjiang/GN/2020 (EA-H1N1) virus was isolated from pregnant sows with miscarriage and respiratory disease in Heilongjiang province, China. Clinical signs associated with influenza infection were observed during 14 days with A/swine/Heilongjiang/GN/2020 infected mice. These data suggest that A/swine/Heilongjiang/GN/2020 (EA-H1N1) had high pathogenicity and could be systemic spread in mice.
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- Generation of an Attenuated Chimeric Bat Influenza A Virus Live-Vaccine Prototype. [Journal Article]
- Recurring epizootic influenza A virus (IAV) infections in domestic livestock such as swine and poultry are associated with a substantial economic burden and pose a constant threat to human health. Therefore, universally applicable and safe animal vaccines are urgently needed. We recently demonstrated that a reassortment-incompatible chimeric bat H17N10 virus harboring the A/swan/Germany/R65/2006 …
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- A Review of Effects of Pandemic on the Patients of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. [Review]
- In today's world, physical as well as mental health both play a crucial role. However, various pandemics have had adverse effects not only on the physical but mental and social health too. With the various preventive measures introduced to handle various pandemics, it becomes more critical to understand how the preventive measures affect the lives of patients suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive D…
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- Severe Human Case of Zoonotic Infection with Swine-Origin Influenza A Virus, Denmark, 2021. [Journal Article]
- During routine surveillance at the National Influenza Center, Denmark, we detected a zoonotic swine influenza A virus in a patient who became severely ill. We describe the clinical picture and the genetic characterization of this variant virus, which is distinct from another variant found previously in Denmark.
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- Unintended health benefits of adopting preventive behaviors during a virus outbreak. [Journal Article]Health Econ. 2023 Feb; 32(2):324-342.HE
- This study investigates whether changes in risk perception play a critical role in improving of preventive behaviors and health outcomes by examining the 2009 H1N1 influenza (or swine flu) pandemic in Korea. We employ a difference-in-differences estimation strategy by comparing the differential effects of the H1N1 outbreak on the confirmed cases of diseases which can be prevented by preventive be…
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- No association of prion protein gene (PRNP) polymorphisms with susceptibility to the pandemic 2009 swine flu. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this was the first evaluation of the association between PRNP polymorphisms and vulnerability to pandemic 2009 swine flu.
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- A new nanobody-enzyme fusion protein-linked immunoassay for detecting antibodies against influenza A virus in different species. [Journal Article]
- Circulation of influenza A virus (IAV), especially within poultry and pigs, continues to threaten public health. A simple and universal detecting method is important for monitoring IAV infection in different species. Recently, nanobodies, which show advantages of easy gene editing and low cost of production, are a promising novel diagnostic tool for the monitoring and control of global IAVs. In t…
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- Influenza A virus reassortment in mammals gives rise to genetically distinct within-host subpopulations. [Journal Article]
- Influenza A virus (IAV) genetic exchange through reassortment has the potential to accelerate viral evolution and has played a critical role in the generation of multiple pandemic strains. For reassortment to occur, distinct viruses must co-infect the same cell. The spatio-temporal dynamics of viral dissemination within an infected host therefore define opportunity for reassortment. Here, we used…
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- Nanoparticle-Based Bivalent Swine Influenza Virus Vaccine Induces Enhanced Immunity and Effective Protection against Drifted H1N1 and H3N2 Viruses in Mice. [Journal Article]
- Swine influenza virus (SIV) circulates worldwide, posing substantial economic loss and disease burden to humans and animals. Vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent SIV infection and transmission. In this study, we evaluated the protective efficacy of a recombinant, baculovirus-insect cell system-expressed bivalent nanoparticle SIV vaccine in mice challenged with drifted swine influ…
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- Interspecies Transmission from Pigs to Ferrets of Antigenically Distinct Swine H1 Influenza A Viruses with Reduced Reactivity to Candidate Vaccine Virus Antisera as Measures of Relative Zoonotic Risk. [Journal Article]
- During the last decade, endemic swine H1 influenza A viruses (IAV) from six different genetic clades of the hemagglutinin gene caused zoonotic infections in humans. The majority of zoonotic events with swine IAV were restricted to a single case with no subsequent transmission. However, repeated introduction of human-seasonal H1N1, continual reassortment between endemic swine IAV, and subsequent d…
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- Variant influenza: connecting the missing dots. [Journal Article]Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2022 12; 20(12):1567-1585.ER
- In June 2009, the World Health Organization declared a new pandemic, the 2009 swine influenza pandemic (swine flu). The symptoms of the swine flu pandemic causing strain were comparable to most of the symptoms noted by seasonal influenza.
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- Promising strategy for developing mRNA-based universal influenza virus vaccine for human population, poultry, and pigs- focus on the bigger picture. [Review]
- Since the first outbreak in the 19th century influenza virus has remained emergent owing to the huge pandemic potential. Only the pandemic of 1918 caused more deaths than any war in world history. Although two types of influenza- A (IAV) and B (IBV) cause epidemics annually, influenza A deserves more attention as its nature is much wilier. IAVs have a large animal reservoir and cause the infectio…
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- Antigenic Characterization and Pandemic Risk Assessment of North American H1 Influenza A Viruses Circulating in Swine. [Journal Article]
- The first pandemic of the 21st century was caused by an H1N1 influenza A virus (IAV) introduced from pigs into humans, highlighting the importance of swine as reservoirs for pandemic viruses. Two major lineages of swine H1 circulate in North America: the 1A classical swine lineage (including that of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic) and the 1B human seasonal-like lineage. Here, we investigated the evolutio…
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