There are lessons to be learned from the outbreak of Ebola for the treatment of other diseases. Speaking from the Fifth ESWI Influenza Conference in Riga, pediatrician Abdullah Brooks of Johns Hopkins in the US says how.
Can laboratory research increase the risk of an infectious disease spreading among the public? Take influenza, for instance, as a new flu season starts. Ron Fouchier, professor of molecular virology at the Erasmus Medical Center, has some answers.
Expect the Unexpected – ESWI statement
Doubting the benefits of influenza vaccination is ethically and scientifically unacceptable
Fifth ESWI Influenza Conference (PDF)
Human infections with a new avian influenza A (H7N9) virus continue to be reported in China. The virus has been detected in poultry in China as well. While mild illness in human cases has been seen, most patients have had severe respiratory illness and some people have died. The only case identified outside of China […]
Avian influenza, or ‘bird flu’, is a disease caused by an avian influenza A virus that normally infects only birds. In fact, all subtypes of the influenza A virus have their origin in wild birds, which means that influenza is a disease which cannot be eradicated. Waterfowl, such as ducks and geese, are natural reservoirs […]
Influenza viruses are changing continuously and new strains emerge from time to time. If a new influenza virus subtype, that is very different from all previous viruses, emerges and causes disease in the human population, people will have little or no specific immunity to it, and consequently this virus may spread quickly and become a […]
Two classes of antiviral agents have been developed for prevention and treatment of influenza: the M2 channel inhibitors (amantadine and rimantadine), and the neuraminidase inhibitors (zanamivir and oseltamivir). Amantadine and rimantadine were the first generation of influenza antiviral agents. These compounds specifically block the ion channel function of the M2 protein of influenza A virus, […]
When a person is exposed to an influenza virus, the innate and subsequently the adaptive or specific immune response kicks in and provides defence against the invading virus. Depending on the nature of the virus and the effectiveness of the immune response, the infected individual suffers from more or less severe consequences of the influenza […]