BACKGROUND This study is to determine the seroprevalence of the pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus (pH1N1) in Taiwan before and after the 2009 pandemic, and to estimate the relative severity of pH1N1 infections among different age groups. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A total of 1544 and 1558 random serum samples were collected from the general population in Taiwan in 2007 and 2010, respectivel...

BACKGROUND Influenza A virus subtypes in non-human hosts have not been characterized in Kenya. We carried out influenza surveillance in selected domestic animals and compared the virus isolates with isolates obtained in humans during the same period. METHODS We collected nasal swabs from pigs, dogs and cats; oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs from poultry; and blood samples from all animals betw...

We aimed to compare the immune response induced by natural infection with 2009 pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (pH1N1) virus and by monovalent pH1N1 vaccination in children and adolescents. This cross-sectional clinical study was conducted at 3 hospitals in Korea from February to May 2010. A total of 266 healthy subjects aged from 6 months to 18 yr were tested for the presence of the antibody against...

Complement fixation (CF) was compared to hemagglutination inhibition (HI) as a method for identifying antibody responses to influenza virus vaccination. CF assays were performed at two different laboratories using paired (pre- and postvaccination) sera from 38 vaccinated laboratory employees; HI assays were performed at a third laboratory. As expected, most vaccinees (31/38 = 82%) responded to ...

Single radial hemolysis (SRH), neutralization (NT), and hemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests were carried out on sera from horses immunized against the Prague and Miami strains of equine influenza virus. The HI and NT tests demonstrated good sensitivity; the sensitivity of the SRH test was somewhat lower. The NT titers of individual sera were correlated very closely with the HI titers, althou...

Upon immunization with LDH-III (subunit composition AABB) rabbits produce anti-A and anti-B antibodies in comparable amounts. These antibodies fit equally well to the hybrid enzyme and to LDH-V (AAAA) or LDH-I (BBBB) respectively, as tested by passive hemagglutination inhibition. No antibodies reacting with both LDH-I and LDH-V were detected. A minority of hybrid-specific antibodies was, howeve...

Influenza surveillance was conducted in Pune, India in 2003. A total of 573 throat swabs/ nasal swabs (TS/NS) and 190 nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were collected from 763 in- and out-patients who were mostly children aged 0-16 years. TS/NS (507/573) and NPA (42/190) specimens were processed in MDCK cell cultures and identified with the hemagglutination inhibition test (HI). A total of 37 infl...

Shape space was proposed over 20 years ago as a conceptual formalism in which to represent antibody/antigen binding. It has since played a key role in computational immunology. Antigens and antibodies are considered to be points in an abstract "shape space", where coordinates of points in this space represent generalized physico-chemical properties associated with various (unspecified) physical...

Estimation formulas for the morbidity of horses infected with equine influenza virus by linear regression, logistic regression and probit transformation were developed, using data from the outbreak at the Sha Tin Racing Track in Hong Kong in 1992. Using these formulas, we estimated the equine influenza virus morbidity rates at training centers belonging to the Japan Racing Association (JRA) in ...

BACKGROUND To evaluate if, among children aged 3 to 15 years, influenza vaccination for multiple seasons affects the proportion sero-protected. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Participants were 131 healthy children aged 3-15 years. Participants were vaccinated with trivalent inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine (TIV) over the 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-8 seasons. Number of seasons vaccinated ...