Influenza viruses, including highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1), could threaten blood safety. We analyzed 10,272 blood donor samples with a minipool nucleic acid amplication technique. Analytical sensitivity of the method was 804 geq/mL and 444 geq/mL for generic influenza primers and influenza (H5N1) subtype-specific primers. This study demonstrates that such screening for influenz...

Influenza activity in the United States began to increase in mid-November and remained elevated through February 9, 2013. During that time, influenza A (H3N2) viruses predominated overall, followed by influenza B viruses. This report summarizes U.S. influenza activity* since the beginning of the 2012-13 influenza season and updates the previous summary.

Influenza A viruses have the potential to cause pandemics due to the introduction of novel subtypes against which human hosts have little or no preexisting immunity. Such viruses may result from reassortment between human and animal influenza viruses. Recently, new influenza-like viruses were identified in bats, raising the concern for a new reservoir of potentially harmful influenza viruses th...

Emergence of Influenza A H1N2 viruses was documented worldwide during the 2001-2002 influenza season. In Japan, H1N2 viruses were isolated from two students of a junior high school in an influenza outbreak in Yokohama City, February 2001. Genetic and antigenic analyses demonstrated that the H1N2 viruses isolated in Japan shared common features with those isolated in other countries.

The emergence of novel avian influenza viruses in migratory birds is of concern because of the potential for virus dissemination during fall migration. We report the identification of novel highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of subtype H5N8, clade 2.3.4.4, and their reassortment with other avian influenza viruses in waterfowl and shorebirds of Siberia.

Influenza surveillance was carried out in a subset of patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) presenting at an Employee Health Clinic (EHS) at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi (urban) and pediatric out patients department of civil hospital at Ballabhgarh (peri-urban), under the Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project (CRHSP) of AIIMS, in Delhi region from Januar...

Influenza viruses are found in wide range of animals, including humans, in nature. When avian and human viruses simultaneously infect an intermediate host, such as pigs, genetic recombination can occur between these viruses. There is concern regarding interspecies transmission, both initial animal-to-animal infection and outbreaks of pandemic viruses in the human population. Hemagglutinin (HA) ...

CONTEXT The adamantanes, amantadine and rimantadine, have been used as first-choice antiviral drugs against community outbreaks of influenza A viruses for many years. Rates of viruses resistant to these drugs have been increasing globally. Rapid surveillance for the emergence and spread of resistant viruses has become critical for appropriate treatment of patients. OBJECTIVE To investigate th...

Transmission of avian influenza viruses from bird to human is a rare event even though avian influenza viruses infect the ciliated epithelium of human airways in vitro and ex vivo. Using an in vitro model of human ciliated airway epithelium (HAE), we demonstrate that while human and avian influenza viruses efficiently infect at temperatures of the human distal airways (37 degrees C), avian, but...

Background and Aims: Influenza A virus of Orthomyxoviridae family is able to create pandemic influenza. Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent influenza virus infection. Matrix protein 2 (M2) is a homotetramer ion channel with 97 amino acids length and highly conserved among influenza viruses and is considered for development of a universal influenza vaccine. Materials and Methods: We...