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Veterinaria Italiana Mar 2024This study was conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and to determine the virus distribution in unvaccinated goats in the...
This study was conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and to determine the virus distribution in unvaccinated goats in the Pantnagar region of Uttarakhand state, India. A total of 212 serum samples from goats were collected randomly from various villages in three districts (Udhamsingh Nagar, Nainital, and Almora) of Uttarakhand. Serum samples were tested for anti-PPRV antibodies by a commercially available kit. RNA was extracted from the clinical samples and it was subjected to one-step RT-PCR, followed by virus isolation from positive samples. A total of 41 animals from various villages were found to be seropositive with a prevalence rate of 19.33%. PPR outbreaks were also reported from the Tarai region of Uttarakhand, and detection by PCR confirmed PPRV in 8 goats. Two representative swab samples were subjected to virus isolation in Vero cells and both samples showed typical cytopathic effects. The present study shows that PPRV is circulating in the Tarai region of Uttarakhand and mass vaccination for PPR must be followed in this region to increase herd immunity to a protective level. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation of PPRV seroprevalence in unvaccinated goats of Uttarakhand, India.
Topics: Animals; Peste-des-Petits-Ruminants; India; Peste-des-petits-ruminants virus; Goats; Goat Diseases; Seroepidemiologic Studies
PubMed: 38757513
DOI: 10.12834/VetIt.2988.21721.3 -
Euro Surveillance : Bulletin Europeen... May 2024
Letter to the editor: Atypical age distribution and high disease severity in children with RSV infections during two irregular epidemic seasons throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; SARS-CoV-2; Child, Preschool; Infant; Child; Severity of Illness Index; Age Distribution; Seasons; Male; Female; Pandemics; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human; Adolescent
PubMed: 38757287
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.20.2400269 -
Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses May 2024Data available for RSV and influenza infections among children < 2 years in Mongolia are limited. We present data from four districts of Ulaanbaatar from April 2015...
BACKGROUND
Data available for RSV and influenza infections among children < 2 years in Mongolia are limited. We present data from four districts of Ulaanbaatar from April 2015 to June 2021.
METHODS
This study was nested in an enhanced surveillance project evaluating pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) impact on the incidence of hospitalized lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs). Our study was restricted to children aged < 2 years with arterial O saturation < 93% and children with radiological pneumonia. Nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs collected at admission were tested for RSV and influenza using qRT-PCR. NP swabs of all patients with radiological pneumonia and of a subset of randomly selected NP swabs were tested for S. pneumoniae (S.p.) by qPCR and for serotypes by culture and DNA microarray.
RESULTS
Among 5705 patients, 2113 (37.0%) and 386 (6.8%) had RSV and influenza infections, respectively. Children aged 2-6 months had a higher percentage of very severe RSV infection compared to those older than 6 months (42.2% versus 31.4%, p-value Fisher's exact = 0.001). S.p. carriage was detected in 1073/2281 (47.0%) patients. Among S.p. carriage cases, 363/1073 (33.8%) had S.p. and RSV codetection, and 82/1073 (7.6%) had S.p. and influenza codetection. S.p. codetection with RSV/influenza was not associated with more severe LRTIs, compared to only RSV/influenza cases.
CONCLUSION
In Mongolia, RSV is an important pathogen causing more severe LRTI in children under 6 months of age. Codetection of RSV or influenza virus and S.p. was not associated with increased severity.
Topics: Humans; Mongolia; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; Infant; Influenza, Human; Female; Male; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human; Child, Preschool; Nasopharynx; Infant, Newborn; Incidence; Hospitalization; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Respiratory Tract Infections
PubMed: 38757258
DOI: 10.1111/irv.13303 -
Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2024As the world grapples with the constant threat of new pathogens, the role of government oversight in research and response efforts has become a topic of considerable...
As the world grapples with the constant threat of new pathogens, the role of government oversight in research and response efforts has become a topic of considerable debate in the academic community. In the recently released "SOP [standard operating procedure] for Nipah virus research in Kerala for studies involving human participants / human samples" by the Government of Kerala, the SOP, apart from administrative permission, requires the proposal to be cleared by the Institutional Research Committee at a Government Medical College, and the inclusion of an investigator from a government institution [1]. In these challenging times, it is crucial to weigh the pros and cons of stringent administrative controls to ensure an effective and ethical approach to tackling emerging infectious diseases.
Topics: Humans; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; India; Biomedical Research; Government Regulation; Nipah Virus; Henipavirus Infections; Ethics Committees, Research
PubMed: 38755764
DOI: 10.20529/IJME.2024.016 -
Nature Communications May 2024Cell plasticity theoretically extends to all possible cell types, but naturally decreases as cells differentiate, whereas injury-repair re-engages the developmental...
Cell plasticity theoretically extends to all possible cell types, but naturally decreases as cells differentiate, whereas injury-repair re-engages the developmental plasticity. Here we show that the lung alveolar type 2 (AT2)-specific transcription factor (TF), CEBPA, restricts AT2 cell plasticity in the mouse lung. AT2 cells undergo transcriptional and epigenetic maturation postnatally. Without CEBPA, both neonatal and mature AT2 cells reduce the AT2 program, but only the former reactivate the SOX9 progenitor program. Sendai virus infection bestows mature AT2 cells with neonatal plasticity where Cebpa mutant, but not wild type, AT2 cells express SOX9, as well as more readily proliferate and form KRT8/CLDN4+ transitional cells. CEBPA promotes the AT2 program by recruiting the lung lineage TF NKX2-1. The temporal change in CEBPA-dependent plasticity reflects AT2 cell developmental history. The ontogeny of AT2 cell plasticity and its transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms have implications in lung regeneration and cancer.
Topics: Animals; Cell Plasticity; Mice; Alveolar Epithelial Cells; Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1; SOX9 Transcription Factor; CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins; Cell Differentiation; Epigenesis, Genetic; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Lung Injury; Regeneration; Sendai virus; Cell Proliferation; Mice, Knockout; Lung
PubMed: 38755149
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48632-3 -
Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses May 2024Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a substantial cause of infant morbidity and mortality due to seasonal peaks of bronchiolitis across the United States. Clinical and...
Geographic Progression of Infant Respiratory Syncytial Virus Associated Bronchiolitis Across the United States Before and Since the Onset of COVID-19: Results From Four Health Systems, 2015-2023.
BACKGROUND
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a substantial cause of infant morbidity and mortality due to seasonal peaks of bronchiolitis across the United States. Clinical and viral surveillance plays a pivotal role in helping hospital systems prepare for expected surges in RSV bronchiolitis. Existing surveillance efforts have shown a geographic pattern of RSV positivity across the United States, with cases typically starting in the southeast and spreading north and west. Public health measures implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted viral transmission across the nation and altered the expected seasonality of RSV. The impact of these changes on the geographic progression of infant RSV bronchiolitis across the United States has not been described.
METHODS
Here, we used clinical and viral surveillance data from four health care systems located in different regions of the United States to describe the geographic progression of infant RSV bronchiolitis across the country from 2015 to 2023.
RESULTS
Prior to widespread circulation of SARS-CoV-2, infant RSV bronchiolitis followed an established geographic pattern associated with seasonal epidemics originating in Florida and spreading north (North Carolina and New York) and later westward (Nevada). Although public health and social measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the seasonality of RSV disease, infant RSV bronchiolitis epidemics progressed across the nation in a pattern identical to the prepandemic era.
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings highlight the importance of ongoing clinical and viral surveillance to optimally track the onset of RSV epidemics and allow health care systems to prepare for expected RSV bronchiolitis surges.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; United States; Infant; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; Bronchiolitis; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human; Seasons; SARS-CoV-2; Infant, Newborn; Female; Male
PubMed: 38751165
DOI: 10.1111/irv.13298 -
Virology Journal May 2024In 2018, SGS Belgium NV developed RSV-NICA (Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Nasobronchial Infective Challenge Agent), an RSV type A challenge agent for use in RSV Controlled...
In 2018, SGS Belgium NV developed RSV-NICA (Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Nasobronchial Infective Challenge Agent), an RSV type A challenge agent for use in RSV Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) studies.It is widely recognized that the stability of RSV can be influenced by a variety of environmental parameters, such as temperature and pH. Consequently, our objective was to evaluate the stability of the viral titer of RSV-NICA following five years of controlled storage and to determine the uniformity of the viral titers across different vials of a GMP-qualified batch of RSV-NICA. In addition, we examined the capacity of RSV-NICA to infect human primary airway epithelial cells (MucilAir™), the principal target cells of RSV, and evaluated the influence of single and recurrent freeze-thaw cycles on the infectious viral titer of the challenge agent.The aliquoted RSV-NICA virus stock was subjected to standard virological and molecular methods to gather data on the titer and consistency of the viral titer contained within 24 representative vials of the stock. Our findings illustrate that over a span of five years of cryo-storage, the infectious viral titer in 75% of the tested vials exhibited a comparable average infectious viral titer (4.75 ± 0.06 vs 4.99 ± 0.11; p-value = 0.14). A considerable reduction down to an undetectable level of infectious virus was observed in the remaining vials. RSV-NICA demonstrated its capacity to effectively infect differentiated human airway epithelial cells, with active virus replication detected in these cells through increasing RSV genome copy number over time. Virus tropism for ciliated cells was suggested by the inhibition of cilia beating coupled with an increase in viral RNA titers. No discernable impact on membrane barrier function of the epithelial lung tissues nor cytotoxicity was detected. Pooling of vials with infectious titers > 4.0 log TCID/ml and freeze-thawing of these combined vials showed no deterioration of the infectious titer. Furthermore, pooling and re-aliquoting of vials spanning the entire range of viral titers (including vials with undetectable infectious virus) along with subjecting the vials to three repeated freeze-thaw cycles did not result in a decrease of the infectious titers in the tested vials.Taken together, our findings indicate that long-term cryo-storage of vials containing RSV-NICA challenge agent may influence the infectious viral titer of the virus, leading to a decrease in the homogeneity of this titer throughout the challenge stock. However, our study also demonstrates that when heterogeneity of the infectious titer of an RSV stock is observed, rounds of pooling, re-aliquoting and subsequent re-titration serve as an effective method not only to restore the homogeneity of the infectious titer of an RSV-A stock, but also to optimize patient-safety, scientific and operational aspects of viral inoculation of study participants during at least the period of one RSV CHIM trial. RSV-NICA is a stable, suitable CHIM challenge agent that can be utilized in efficacy trials for RSV vaccines and antiviral entities.
Topics: Humans; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; Epithelial Cells; Viral Load; Virus Replication; Cryopreservation; Cells, Cultured
PubMed: 38750558
DOI: 10.1186/s12985-024-02386-y -
BMC Pediatrics May 2024Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections, particularly in infants and young children during winter. We aimed to...
BACKGROUND
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections, particularly in infants and young children during winter. We aimed to study the demographics and clinical characteristics of RSV infections and age-related patterns.
METHODS
This retrospective study evaluated pediatric respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections conducted in Jordan from September 2021 to March 2022. Patients under the age of five who had viral polymerase chain reaction results showing RSV infection from nasopharyngeal aspiration were included. In addition, demographic information, medical history, and clinical data were gathered. These included comorbidities, outcomes, length of stay, ICU hospitalization, use of antibiotics, and oxygen supplementation.
RESULTS
A total of 199 patients were included. Most patients were males (56.8%) and less than one year (43.7%). Children aged between 1 and 2 years presented with more shortness of breath (90.1%) than infants and children more than two years (66.7% and 87%, respectively) (p < 0.001). Older children (> 2 years) were significantly more likely to use antibiotics and have ICU admission than younger children ≤ 2 years (p = 0.045 and 0.018, respectively). There was no relationship between age groups, recurrent hospitalization, previous RSV infection, oxygen therapy, coinfection, and hospitalization duration. The respiratory rate was higher among patients with co-infection (p = 0.031).
CONCLUSION
The current study provides information on the demographics and clinical characteristics of RSV infections. These findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of RSV infections in the specified population, emphasizing age-specific variations and clinical implications for better management strategies.
Topics: Humans; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; Male; Female; Retrospective Studies; Infant; Child, Preschool; Jordan; Tertiary Care Centers; Hospitalization; Age Factors; Length of Stay; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human; Anti-Bacterial Agents
PubMed: 38750503
DOI: 10.1186/s12887-024-04799-8 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... May 2024The transformative potential of gene editing technologies hinges on the development of safe and effective delivery methods. In this study, we developed a...
The transformative potential of gene editing technologies hinges on the development of safe and effective delivery methods. In this study, we developed a temperature-sensitive and interferon-silent Sendai virus (ts SeV) as a novel delivery vector for CRISPR-Cas9 and for efficient gene editing in sensitive human cell types without inducing IFN responses. ts SeV demonstrates unprecedented transduction efficiency in human CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) including transduction of the CD34+/CD38-/CD45RA-/CD90+(Thy1+)/CD49f stem cell enriched subpopulation. The frequency of editing exceeded 90% and bi-allelic editing exceeded 70% resulting in significant inhibition of HIV-1 infection in primary human CD14+ monocytes. These results demonstrate the potential of the ts SeV platform as a safe, efficient, and flexible addition to the current gene-editing tool delivery methods, which may help to further expand the possibilities in personalized medicine and the treatment of genetic disorders.
PubMed: 38746439
DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.03.592383 -
MedRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Apr 2024Thyroid eye disease (TED) is an autoimmune disease characterized by orbital inflammation and tissue remodeling. TED pathogenesis is poorly understood but is linked to...
CONTEXT
Thyroid eye disease (TED) is an autoimmune disease characterized by orbital inflammation and tissue remodeling. TED pathogenesis is poorly understood but is linked to autoantibodies to thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R).
OBJECTIVE
To explore the potential involvement of viral infections in TED pathogenesis.
METHODS
Using NCBI BLAST, we compared human TSHR and IGF-1R proteins to various viral proteomes, including , , , , , and . Enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISAs) were performed on orbital adipose tissue samples from 22 TED patients and controls to quantify antiviral antibody titers. Demographics and clinical data were reviewed.
RESULTS
Homology analysis revealed conserved motifs between TSHR and IGF-1R with several viral proteins, particularly the human papillomavirus 18 (HPV18) L1 capsid protein. Basic demographic and clinical information between the cohorts were comparable. ELISAs showed statistically significant differences in the average HPV18 L1 IgG normalized optical density levels among tissues of control ( = 0.9387, = 0.3548), chronic TED ( = 2.305, = 1.064), and active acute TED ( = 4.087, = 2.034) patients. These elevated HPV18 L1 IgG titers did not statistically correlate with TSH, T4, or TSI levels, and were elevated in TED patients irrespective of treatment with teprotumumab, indicating a direct immunological response to HPV.
CONCLUSIONS
This study presents the first molecular evidence linking HPV and TED, highlighting molecular mimicry between HPV capsid protein and key autoimmunity targets in TED. This suggests an immunological link contributing to TED's pathogenesis, opening new avenues for understanding and managing the disease.
PubMed: 38746201
DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.27.24306443