# 6018
Over the past year I’ve posted more than 900 blogs, dozens of which looked at some of the latest research into influenza and other emerging infectious diseases.
Since these studies oft times make an initial splash only to get lost in the passing parade of new reports, I thought I’d post some quick summaries (with links back to the original blogs) on some of the research of 2011 I believe is deserving of a second look.
In January of 2011 we saw a study published in IDSA’s Clinical Infectious Diseases journal that looked at the use of convalescent plasma in treating severe H1N1 infection. The study was called:
Ivan FN Hung, Kelvin KW To, Cheuk-Kwong Lee,Kar-Lung Lee, Kenny Chan, Wing-Wah Yan, Raymond Liu,Chi-Leung Watt, Wai-Ming Chan, Kang-Yiu Lai,Chi-Kwan Koo, Tom Buckley,Fu-Loi Chow,Kwan-Keung Wong, Hok-Sum Chan, Chi-Keung Ching, Bone SF Tang,Candy CY Lau,Iris WS Li, Shao-Haei Liu, Kwok-Hung Chan, Che-Kit Lin, and Kwok-Yung Yuen
Convalescent plasma is created by collecting blood from those who been infected, and have since recovered, and through a process called plasmapheresis, the blood cells are removed from the blood plasma.
Convalescent plasma, which contains antibodies against the infection could, theoretically, be used as either a treatment for someone already infected, or as a temporary prophylactic, to prevent infection.
In my blog (see CID Journal: Convalescent Plasma Therapy For Severe H1N1) I also looked at the history of using convalescent plasma in the treatment of H5N1 in China.
Also in January we saw a study that appeared in the CDC’s EID Journal, that looks at the potential for the 2009 H1N1 virus to reassort with other currently circulating flu viruses and create a more virulent flu strain.
Possible Increased Pathogenicity of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza Virus upon Reassortment
Eefje J.A. Schrauwen, Sander Herfst, Salin Chutinimitkul, Theo M. Bestebroer, Guus F. Rimmelzwaan, Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus, Thijs Kuiken, and Ron A.M. Fouchier
The authors concluded:
We conclude that the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus has the potential to reassort with seasonal influenza virus A (H1N1) and influenza virus A (H3N2) and that such reassortment events could result in viruses with increased pathogenicity in ferrets.
And while not quite as envisioned by this study, within a few months we were to learn of a reassortment between a swine H3N2 virus, and the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus (see CIDRAP: New Details In The trH3N2 Story).
In my blog on this study (EID Journal: H1N1 Reassortment Possibilities), I also referenced another study from 2010 (mBio: A/H1N1 Potential For Mutation) that looked at the potential for the 2009 H1N1 virus to become more pathogenic through the more common process; antigenic `drift’.
In late February we saw a report in PNAS that looked at research out of China where scientists - using reverse genetics – had created 127 hybrid viruses out of the H9N2 and 2009 H1N1 viruses in the laboratory and tested them on mice for compatibility, replication ability, and virulence.
They found that half of the hybrid viruses were biologically `fit’ as far as replication goes, and 8 hybrids were significantly more pathogenic than either of their parental viruses (see PNAS: Reassortment Of H1N1 And H9N2 Avian viruses).
High genetic compatibility and increased pathogenicity of reassortants derived from avian H9N2 and pandemic H1N1/2009 influenza viruses
Yipeng Sun,Kun Qin, Jingjing Wang, Juan Pu, Qingdong Tang, Yanxin Hu, Yuhai Bi,Xueli Zhao, Hanchun Yang, Yuelong Shu, and Jinhua Liu
This research, albeit with far less lethal parental flu strains, is not so very different from the work on the H5N1 virus conducted by Ron Fouchier and Yoshihiro Kawaoka (see The Biosecurity Debate On H5N1 Research) that has caused so much furor in the press over the past few months.
While the month of March was understandably dominated by the news of the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident in Japan, we did look at a few studies, including Study: Longevity Of Viruses On PPEs.
Appearing in the Japanese journal Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine. researchers inoculated various fomites (masks, gloves, gowns, wooden and steel desktops) with laboratory grown H1N1, and then tested the surfaces after 1, 8, and 24 hrs for the presence of the virus (HA titer & 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID50)/mL were measured).
Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
Volume 15, Number 6, 344-349, DOI: 10.1007/s12199-010-0149-y
Maintenance of influenza virus infectivity on the surfaces of personal protective equipment and clothing used in healthcare settings
Hiroko Sakaguchi, Koji Wada, Jitsuo Kajioka, Mayumi Watanabe, Ryuichi Nakano, Tatsuko Hirose, Hiroshi Ohta and Yoshiharu Aizawa
The results indicate that all surfaces tested harbored viable H1N1 viruses for at least 8 hours, with some surfaces infectious for more than 24 hours. These test results extend the window of infectivity from fomites considerably beyond what has previously been reported.
There were many other studies of note during the first quarter of 2011, including a Eurosurveillance look at the D222G/N mutation in the 2009 H1N1 virus, the IOM update on the use of PPEs for healthcare workers when facing pandemic influenza and other viral respiratory illnesses.
To browse blogs specific to research you can use the RESEARCH quick link on my sidebar.
As news is often slow during the holiday season, over the next couple of weeks I plan to post a couple of more retrospectives on the news and research of the year that was.
