The outbreaks of avian influenza A virus in poultry and humans over the last decade posed a pandemic threat to human. Here, we discuss the basic classification and the structure of influenza A virus. The viral genome contains eight RNA viral segments and the functions of viral proteins encoded by this genome are described. In addition, the RNA transcription and replication of this virus are rev...

Wenjuan Zhang, PhD; Brian D. Davis, BSc; Stephanie S. Chen, Jorge M. Sincuir Martinez, BS; Jasmine T. Plummer, Eric Vail, MD

African swine fever (ASF) is a pandemic viral disease that poses major threat to the health of wild and domestic pigs, national economies, subsistence livelihoods around world [...]

"Emerging diseases" are those that either have newly appeared in the population or are rapidly increasing their incidence or expanding their geographic range. Emerging viruses usually have identifiable sources, often existing viruses of animals or humans that have been given opportunities to infect new host populations ("viral traffic"). Environmental and social changes, frequently the result o...

Influenza viruses continue to be a major health threat in human and bird populations. The improvements in formulation and production level of the current influenza vaccines are not sufficient to afford complete protection. The continuous antigenic drifts and emergence of endemic and zoonotic strains make influenza vaccine planning difficult. Concern about the emergence of new influenza pandemic...

Introduction: Emerging viral diseases (EVDs) pose a significant threat to public health. There have been a few viral epidemics in the last two decades. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now a global pandemic.Objective: To provide emergency physicians an update on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its dynamic impact on the emergency department (ED) in te...

Cells have evolved elaborate mechanisms to counteract the onslaught of viral infections. To activate these defenses, the viral threat must be recognized. Danger signals, or pathogen-associated molecular patterns, that are induced by pathogens include double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), viral single-stranded RNA, glycolipids, and CpG DNA. Understanding the signal transduction pathways activated and hos...