Adequate response to severe influenza infections or pandemic outbreaks requires two complementary strategies: preventive vaccination and antiviral therapy. The existing influenza drugs, M2 blockers and neuraminidase inhibitors, show modest clinical efficacy and established or potential resistance. In the past three years, several new agents have entered the clinical pipeline and already yielded...

respiratory virus infection is a major cause of asthma exacerbation. however, the underlying mechanisms of  this exacerbation  are unknown. therefore,  to  determine  the mechanisms, we examined the effect of influenza infection in a murine model of asthma.mice were divided into four groups: the phosphate-buffered saline (pbs), house dust mite (hdm), influenza, and hdm/influenza groups. the inf...

Background Recently, the prevalence of influenza threatening the society health; preventative strategies are effective method in reducing risk prevalence of influenza. The aim of this study was to determine the cognitive determinants of influenza preventive behaviors among high school students based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study, conducted am...

Influenza A viruses cause significant morbidity and mortality annually, and the threat of a pandemic underscores the need for new therapeutic strategies. Here, we briefly discuss novel antiviral agents under investigation, the limitations of current antiviral therapy and stress the importance of secondary bacterial infections in seasonal and pandemic influenza. Additionally, the lack of new ant...

We surveyed live-poultry markets in Korea in 2003 and isolated 9 H9N2, 6 H3N2, and 1 H6N1 influenza viruses. Antigenic and phylogenetic analyses showed that all 9 H9N2 isolates were of A/Chicken/Korea/25232-96006/96-like lineage (which caused disease in chickens in Korea in 1996) but were different from H9N2 viruses of southeastern China. They had at least 4 genotypes and replicated in chickens...

The appearance of the new Asian influenza virus in early 1957 and its subsequent rapid spread throughout the world stimulated renewed interest in the epidemiology of influenza. For the first time since identification of the etiologic agents of this disease the opportunity presented itself for study of its pandemic form by specific microbiological tests. The results of a number of such studies c...

Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) represent a novel route of intercellular communication. While previous work has shown that TNTs facilitate the exchange of viral or prion proteins from infected to naïve cells, it is not clear whether the viral genome is also transferred via this mechanism and further, whether transfer via this route can result in productive replication of the infectious agents in the...

Better preparedness for an influenza pandemic mitigates its impact. Many countries have started developing and implementing national influenza pandemic preparedness plans. However, the level of preparedness varies among countries. Developing countries encounter unique and difficult issues and challenges in preparing for a pandemic. Deaths attributable to an influenza pandemic could be substanti...

In spite of the efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO), influenza continues to be a major public health problem, both because of its impact on the health of subjects at risk, such as the elderly, and because of the economic burden that it places on society. Adjuvants are agents which, when incorporated into vaccines, enhance the immunogenicity of their antigens. The need for ever more i...