281 The outbreak of the novel H1N1 influenza A, which began in Mexico, has attracted global attention due to the initial high mortality rate and rapid spread since April 2009. Zoonotic infection from pig to human was initially considered as most of the infected cases in Mexico had a history of close contact with pigs. By genotyping and sequencing the causative virus, it was found that the candi...

BACKGROUND Data on the burden of the 2009 influenza pandemic in Asia are limited. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was first reported in Thailand in May 2009. We assessed incidence and epidemiology of influenza-associated hospitalizations during 2009-2010. METHODS We conducted active, population-based surveillance for hospitalized cases of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in all 20 hospitals in...

Since emergence of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus in April 2009, three influenza A viruses-seasonal (H3N2), seasonal (H1N1), and pandemic (H1N1) 2009-have circulated in humans. Genetic reassortment between these viruses could result in enhanced pathogenicity. We compared 4 reassortant viruses with favorable in vitro replication properties with the wild-type pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus with respe...

BACKGROUND Hypercytokinemia is the main immunopathological mechanism contributing to a more severe clinical course in influenza A (H1N1) virus infections. Most patients infected with the influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 virus had increased systemic levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines; including interleukin IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). We propose that single-nucleotide polymorph...

Swine influenza was first recognized clinically in pigs at the time of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic [1]. From 1918 to 1998, swine influenza was almost exclusively caused by the influenza A (H1N1) classic swine virus; this virus circulated in pigs with little genetic drift [1–3] for more than 70 years. In 1998, severe influenza-like illness (ILI) was observed in pigs in the United States. The c...

The emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses has heightened global concern about the threat posed by pandemic influenza. To address the need for a highly effective universal influenza vaccine, we developed a novel M2-deficient single replication (M2SR) influenza vaccine virus and previously reported that it provided strong heterosubtypic protection against seasonal influenza ...

background preventing the seasonal or pandemic outbreak of influenza can be powerful and cost-effective. objectives in this study, we constructed a novel virus-like particle (vlp) platform that contains two hemagglutinin (ha) subtypes and evaluated immunogenicity of constructed vlp in mice. materials and methods this recombinant candidate vaccine model resulted in the expression of two has of h...

Recently, three novel avian-origin swine influenza viruses (SIVs) were first isolated from pigs in Guangdong Province, southern China, yet little is known about the seroprevalence of avian influenza viruses among pigs in southern China. Here, we report for the first time the seroprevalence of avian H3, H4, and H6 influenza viruses in swine populations and the lack of seroepidemiological evidenc...

Influenza A viruses are endemic in many animal species, including humans, swine, and wild birds, and sporadic cases of transmission of influenza A viruses between humans and animals do occur, including human infections with avian-origin influenza A viruses (i.e., H5N1 and H7N7) and swine-origin influenza A viruses (i.e., H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2). Genetic analysis can distinguish animal origin infl...

Swine influenza viruses cause annual epidemics and occasional pandemics claiming the lives of millions from the early history up to the present days. This virus has drawn on a bag of evolutionary tricks to survive in one or another form in both humans and pigs with novel gene constellations through the periodic importation or exportation of viral genes. A prime example is emergence of pandemic ...