Global circulation patterns of seasonal influenza viruses vary with antigenic drift

Assessing Antigenic Drift of Seasonal Influenza A(H3N2) and A(H1N1)pdm09 Viruses

Under selective pressure from the host immune system, antigenic epitopes of influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) have continually evolved to escape antibody recognition, termed antigenic drift. We analyzed the genomes of influenza A(H3N2) and A(H1N1)pdm09 virus strains circulating in Thailand between 2010 and 2014 and assessed how well the yearly vaccine strains recommended for the southern hemis...

Circulation and antigenic drift in human influenza B viruses in SE Asia and Oceania since 2000.

During annual influenza epidemics, influenza B viruses frequently co-circulate with influenza A viruses and in some years, such as 2005, large outbreaks have occurred while in other years, the virus virtually disappears. Since 1987 there have been two lineages of influenza B viruses co-circulating in various countries and causing disease in humans. The proportions of these two lineages vary fro...

The global antigenic diversity of swine influenza A viruses

Swine influenza presents a substantial disease burden for pig populations worldwide and poses a potential pandemic threat to humans. There is considerable diversity in both H1 and H3 influenza viruses circulating in swine due to the frequent introductions of viruses from humans and birds coupled with geographic segregation of global swine populations. Much of this diversity is characterized gen...

Continual Antigenic Diversification in China Leads to Global Antigenic Complexity of Avian Influenza H5N1 Viruses

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus poses a significant potential threat to human society due to its wide spread and rapid evolution. In this study, we present a comprehensive antigenic map for HPAI H5N1 viruses including 218 newly sequenced isolates from diverse regions of mainland China, by computationally separating almost all HPAI H5N1 viruses into 15 major antigenic clu...

Influenza vaccine--outmaneuvering antigenic shift and drift.