Avian influenza A H5N1 presents a serious and possibly imminent pandemic threat. In such an event, adequate supplies of affordable vaccines and antiviral agents will be unavailable to most people in the world. In view of the overwhelming need for effective alternatives, generic agents that target the host immune response or the pandemic virus should be considered. Many scientists doubt the effe...

BACKGROUND Antiviral agents could play a significant role in the response to a future influenza pandemic, especially if an effective vaccine is unavailable. There is, however, a limited availability of antiviral drugs, as was the case during the A/Fujian(H3N2) epidemic in the 2003-2004 season. There are major differences among the available antiviral agents in terms of clinical pharmacology, ad...

BACKGROUND Tropical countries are thought to play an important role in the global behavior of respiratory infections such as influenza. The tropical country of Ecuador has almost no documentation of the causes of acute respiratory infections. The objectives of this study were to identify the viral agents associated with influenza like illness (ILI) in Ecuador, describe what strains of influenza...

The importance of influenza viruses as worldwide infectious agents is well recognized. Specific mutations and evolution in influenza viruses is difficult to predict. We studied specific mutations in matrix protein 1 (M1) of H5N1 influenza A virus together with properties associated with it using prediction tools developed in Bioinformatics. Changes in hydrophobicity, polarity and secondary stru...

N Engl J Med 2005;353:1363-73. Copyright © 2005 Massachusetts Medical Society. he impact of influenza infection is felt globally each year when the disease develops in approximately 20 percent of the world’s population. In the United States, influenza infections occur in epidemics each winter, generally between late December and early March. Recent events, including human cases of avian influen...

BACKGROUND Viral respiratory infections are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Many new aetiological agents have been described recently. OBJECTIVES We looked for respiratory viruses in a population-based sample of healthy adults with influenza-like illness (ILI). We investigated host and spatio-temporal associations with virus isolation and host, spatio-temporal and virus a...

BACKGROUND Despite the disease burden imposed by respiratory diseases on children in Central America, there is a paucity of data describing the etiologic agents of the disease. AIMS To analyze viral etiologic agents associated with influenza-like illness (ILI) in participants reporting to one outpatient health center, one pediatric hospital, and three general hospitals in El Salvador, Hondura...