A rapid culture assay which allows for the simultaneous typing and subtyping of currently circulating influenza A(H1N1), A(H3N2), and B viruses in clinical specimens was developed. Pools of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against influenza A and B viruses and MAbs HA1-71 and HA2-76, obtained by immunizing mice with the denatured hemagglutinin subfragments HA1 and HA2 of influenza virus A/Victoria/...

Co-circulation of two influenza B virus lineages, B/Yamagata and B/Victoria, has been recognized since the late 1980s. The assessment of the prevalent lineage and the group of viruses in circulation is of importance in order to decide on the vaccine composition and evaluate its efficacy. The molecular characterization of influenza B viruses in circulation has been the aim of this study; this wa...

During annual influenza epidemics, influenza B viruses frequently co-circulate with influenza A viruses and in some years, such as 2005, large outbreaks have occurred while in other years, the virus virtually disappears. Since 1987 there have been two lineages of influenza B viruses co-circulating in various countries and causing disease in humans. The proportions of these two lineages vary fro...

The NS1 proteins of influenza A and B viruses (A/NS1 and B/NS1 proteins) have only approximately 20% amino acid sequence identity. Nevertheless, these proteins show several functional similarities, such as their ability to bind to the same RNA targets and to inhibit the activation of protein kinase R in vitro. A critical function of the A/NS1 protein is the inhibition of synthesis of alpha/beta...

The main characteristics of neuraminidase / sialidase from Influenza Virus and its peculiar nomenclature are described, as well two new, sensitive simple procedures (fluorometric by luminiscence) for measuring activity, which have been used at the Department Biochemistry Molecular Biology University Salamanca (Prof. J. A. Cabezas). kinetics three A B Strains, result comparison biological physic...

background and aims: influenza is one of the main respiratory infections of humans, responsible for 300,000–500,000 annual deaths world-wide. vaccination is one of the best ways to prevent infections including influenza. influenza virosomes are virus-like particles, which retain the cell binding and membrane fusion properties of the native virus, but lack the ribonucleoprotein (rnp). a virosoma...

We evaluated the effectiveness of the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine for preventing laboratory-confirmed influenza in a South Korean population. A retrospective case-control study was conducted among patients who visited selected hospitals from September 2010 to May 2011. A total of 483 laboratory-confirmed influenza patients were included in the analysis as case subjects. For each case p...

Influenza A/H3 and B viruses co-circulated in the 2004 2005 epidemic season in Japan, and we confirmed a case of co-infection by both viruses. The two influenza viruses were isolated from a single patient by the plaque purification technique, and co-infection was confirmed. The patient was a 4-year-old girl whose throat swab specimens were positive for both influenza A and B viruses by a quick ...

A mutant cell line of porcine kidney cells that resists the cytopathic effect of influenza virus has been obtained and characterized. These cells, designated ESK-R, were originally obtained by prolonged cultivation of cells surviving influenza B/Kanagawa/73 virus infection. No infectious virus was recovered from ESK-R cells, and no evidence for the presence of virus antigens in the cells was de...

BACKGROUND Previous ecological studies have shown a temporal and spatial association between influenza epidemics and meningococcal disease (MNG); however, none have examined more than two respiratory viruses. METHODS Data were obtained in Chile between 2000 and 2005 on confirmed cases of MNG and all confirmed cases of respiratory viruses (influenza A and B; parainfluenza; adenovirus; and resp...