Many virologists, including myself, believe that the threat of avian H5N1 influenza is not only overestimated, but also distracts from serious consideration of other potential pandemic strains. In early 2005 I wrote about this problem (“Should we worry about avian influenza?) and suggested that we should pay attention to H2N2 strains as a potential pandemic …
This Week in Virology listener Raphael D. Fernandez, M.D. has kindly transcribed my conversation with Dr. Peter Palese that was aired on the podcast on 6 May 2009. You can download the transcript from the show notes page. Many thanks to Dr. Fernandez for the transcript!
In episode 35 of the podcast “This Week in Virology”, Vincent, Alan, Dick, and Richard Kessin talk about Lujo virus, a new arenavirus, influenza, WHO rewriting pandemic rules, adjuvants, and a brief history of microbiology. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV035.mp3″] Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #35 or subscribe in iTunes or by …
Now that we have discussed influenza pathogenesis in humans and the innate immune defenses, we can tackle the conclusion that type I IFN mediates the development of secondary bacterial pneumonia in mice. Secondary bacterial pneumonia occurs after the patient has begun to recover from influenza infection, and often influenza virus can no longer be isolated. …
Interferons and secondary pneumonia after influenza Read More »
The fact that viruses routinely and frequently cause disease shows that our defense mechanisms are imperfect. This occurs in large part because nearly every viral genome encodes one or more countermeasures to modulate host defenses. Influenza virus is no exception. One of the viral proteins, called NS1, is particularly adept at impairing the synthesis of …
How influenza virus inhibits early antiviral responses Read More »
When influenza virus is introduced into the respiratory tract, by aerosol or by contact with saliva or other respiratory secretions from an infected individual, it attaches to and replicates in epithelial cells. The virus replicates in cells of both the upper and lower respiratory tract. Viral replication combined with the immune response to infection (which …
