Macrophages are known to be one of the first lines of defense against influenza virus infection. However, they may also contribute to severe disease caused by the highly pathogenic avian (HPAI) H5N1 influenza viruses. One reason for this may be the ability of certain influenza virus strains to productively replicate in macrophages. However, studies investigating the productive replication of in...

1Department of Virology, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Received: 14/11/2001; accepted 27/06/2002 ABSTRACT To better understand the annual distribution of influenza virus in our country, we isolated and typed 45 viruses from 1043 patients with acute respiratory illnesses in a 10-year study...

From 2013 an annual nasal live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV—Fluenz) is available for all children in the UK aged 2 and 3 years and other ‘at-risk’ children, as part of the National Health Service (NHS) childhood vaccination programme. 2 The vaccine contains reassortant influenza viruses; two influenza A viruses (H1N1 and H3N2) and one influenza B virus, and has previously been used in chi...

BACKGROUND There is little information about influenza among the Pakistani population. In order to assess the trends of Influenza-like-Illness (ILI) and to monitor the predominant circulating strains of influenza viruses, a country-wide lab-based surveillance system for ILI and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) with weekly sampling and reporting was established in 2008. This system was ne...

Pandemic strains of influenza A virus arise by genetic reassortment between avian and human viruses. Pigs have been suggested to generate such reassortants as intermediate hosts. In order for pigs to serve as 'mixing vessels' in genetic reassortment events, they must be susceptible to both human and avian influenza viruses. The ability of avian influenza viruses to replicate in pigs, however, h...

The host interferon (IFN) response represents one of the first barriers that influenza viruses must surmount in order to establish an infection. Many advances have been made in recent years in understanding the interactions between influenza viruses and the interferon system. In this review, we summarise recent work regarding activation of the type I IFN response by influenza viruses, including...

Influenza virus is one of the most important respiratory pathogens with significant medical and economic burdens [1-3]. It belongs to genera A, B and C of the family Orthomyxoviridae with type A viruses being the primary pathogens claimed for seasonal and pandemic influenza outbreaks [4]. Type A viruses can be further divided into different subtypes based on the serotypes of their main surface ...

objective: monitoring of influenza virus shedding and optimization of multiplicities of infection (moi) is important in the investigation of a virus one step growth cycle and for obtaining a high yield of virus in vaccine development and conventional basic diagnostic methods. however, eluted infectious viruses may still be present immediately after virus inoculation and when cells are washed fo...

background the annual hajj pilgrimage to mecca brings over two million people together in a small confined area. respiratory involvement is the most common disease during this ceremony, and up to now no unique cause has been identified. the present study was conducted to determine the incidence and types of respiratory diseases and their associated etiologic agents. materials and methods during...

BACKGROUND Influenza neuraminidase (NA) is an important surface glycoprotein and plays a vital role in viral replication and drug development. The NA is found in influenza A and B viruses, with nine subtypes classified in influenza A. The complete knowledge of influenza NA evolutionary history and phylodynamics, although critical for the prevention and control of influenza epidemics and pandemi...