Despite significant progress in understanding the pathogenesis and treatment of viral diseases, influenza virus alone causes up to three five million severe cases 250-500 thousand deaths annually. However, respiratory viruses can affect not only system, but also cause complications cardiovascular system. For example, acute coronary syndrome, myocarditis, pericarditis, exacerbation chronic heart...

Arginase activity in the lung has become a focus of research as modulation of this enzyme may result in desirable outcomes in a variety of pulmonary disorders. This review examines the current available literature for insights into how arginase modulation may alter the course of respiratory viral infection.

The abundance of evidence suggest that inflammation of immune and non-immune cells may lead to an imbalance of the pro- and anti-coagulant state during viral infections. During systemic infections, the endothelium plays a critical role in regulating hemostasis, and severe imbalances of endothelial function and activation can contribute to organ failure. Viral infections may elevate plasma level...

BACKGROUND Results from cohort studies evaluating the severity of respiratory viral co-infections are conflicting. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the clinical severity of viral co-infections as compared to single viral respiratory infections. METHODS We searched electronic databases and other sources for studies published up to January 28, 2013. We included obser...

The primary objectives of the lecture are: (1) Describe the frequency and impact of viral infections and acute respiratory illnesses (ARI) among hospitalized patients and in the community; (2) Describe the analysis of respiratory viruses using in-house and commercial molecular diagnostics; (3) Estimate the effectiveness of influenza vaccination in the last two winters to prevent symptomatic inf...

The treatment of viral infections has relied on pre-emptive vaccination or use of a limited range of anti-viral drugs. However, the majority of viruses have no available drugs and treatment is merely supportive. RNA interference (RNAi) offers the ability to directly and rapidly treat virus infections via the targeting of viral genes. Indeed, clinical trials have already been undertaken with pro...