Tag Archives: influenza

Influenza A virus is a serious threat to human health, owing in part to the potential emergence of highly virulent strains resulting in pandemic infection that can kill millions of people. Ferrets are the dominant model system for studying influenza A virus because they alone are naturally susceptible to the same strains that infect humans.ContinueContinue reading “Why ferrets get the same flu that we do”

Influenza virus continually evolves, giving rise to both seasonal outbreaks and catastrophic pandemics. Current management strategies involve annual vaccines for prevention and compounds that block the viral surface protein neuraminidase for treatment. But annual vaccines are unlikely to be useful in the event of a pandemic infectious outbreak, and neuraminidase blockers must be taken veryContinueContinue reading “Blocking inflammation to treat influenza”

The creation and production of vaccines has come a long way since Edward Jenner developed the first known vaccine in 1796. Jenner used cowpox, a mild relative of smallpox, to induce immunity to smallpox. Today’s vaccines typically use inactivated forms, attenuated forms or purified immunogenic components of the causative pathogens as active agents. For example,ContinueContinue reading “Streamlining vaccine production using mRNA”

Several influenza virus strains infect humans, including some that are highly pathogenic and potential pandemic agents. Influenza vaccines are used to reduce exposure, illness and health care costs. Hemagglutinin, the most common vaccine target, is highly mutable, however, so vaccines must be reformulated each year to address emerging influenza strains. A ‘universal’ vaccine that protectsContinueContinue reading “One vaccine to fight them all?”

Influenza A is a highly mutable virus that infects millions of people every year and can be fatal in severe cases. Human antibodies are effective against a few strains belonging to 2 of the 16 subtypes of influenza A, and new vaccines based on those antibodies are developed each year to match the evolved viruses,ContinueContinue reading “Steps toward a universal flu vaccine”

With the threat of an avian flu pandemic lingering, the search for agents with prophylactic or therapeutic potential continues. Now, Antonio Lanzavecchia (Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Switzerland), Kanta Subbarao (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD), and colleagues report that neutralizing antibodies from humans who had recovered from avian flu (H5N1) protected mice against H5N1ContinueContinue reading “Antibodies against avian flu”