influenza virus

(New York Academy of Sciences) The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity recently recommended that journals Nature and Science remove certain methodological details from controversial studies on H5N1 to minimize the risk of these findings being misused by would-be bioterrorists.

On Feb. 2, the New York Academy of Sciences brings together leading scientists, publishers, and legal experts to explore the issues surrounding the impending publication of these studies, including matters of censorship and public safety.

(Cell Press) Researchers have now identified and characterized adult stem cells that have the capacity to regenerate lung tissue.

The findings, which come from studies of isolated human stem cells and of mice infected with a particularly nasty strain of H1N1 influenza virus, could lead to new regenerative therapies for acute and chronic airway diseases, according to the report published in the Oct. 28th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication.

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Examination of lung tissue and other autopsy material from 68 American soldiers who died of respiratory infections in 1918 has revealed that the influenza virus that eventually killed 50 million people worldwide was circulating in the United States at least four months before the 1918 influenza reached pandemic levels that fall.

(American Thoracic Society) New research on mice has shown that pulmonary administration of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) significantly reduces flu symptoms and prevents death after a lethal dose influenza virus.

While GM-SCF therapy for humans as a flu prophylaxis or treatment may be years away, the study results were striking: All of the mice treated with GM-SCF survived after being infected with the influenza virus, whereas untreated mice all died from the same infection.

(MedPage Today) -- Flu activity is continuing to pick up in the U.S., settling into a more typical pattern following the emergence of the H1N1 influenza virus in 2009.

(Infectious Diseases Society of America) Two new studies raise public health concerns about increasing antiviral resistance among certain influenza viruses, their ability to spread, and a lack of alternative antiviral treatment options.

The findings are published in the Jan. 1 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

(Rice University) Rice University scientists have found a way to predict rapidly whether a new strain of the influenza virus should be included in the annual seasonal flu vaccine.

While it sometimes takes new flu strains up to three years to become dominant worldwide, the new method can predict whether they will become dominant as little as two weeks after the strain's genetic sequence first appears in the publicly available GenBank database.

(MedPage Today) -- The 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus will likely disappear unless it mutates to avoid high global immunity, researchers speculated.

Among solid-organ transplant recipients, the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus caused illness ranging from mild to deadly, although early antiviral treatment improved outcomes, researchers found.

The pandemic H1N1 influenza virus is similar to seasonal influenza A viruses in terms of viral shedding, symptoms, and household transmission, researchers in Hong Kong found.