Influenza Virus Net is the web resource for anyone interested in influenza and flu pandemics. Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses), that affects humans, birds and other mammals. The virus spreads easily from person to person. Influenza circulates worldwide and can affect anybody in any age group. Influenza causes annual epidemics that peak during winter in temperate regions. Influenza is a serious public health problem that causes severe illnesses and deaths for higher risk populations. The most common symptoms of the disease are chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness/fatigue and general discomfort. Sore throat, fever and coughs are the most frequent symptoms. In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly for the young and the elderly. An influenza epidemic can take an economic toll through lost workforce productivity, and strain health services. Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent infection.

The objectives of Influenza Virus Net are to be the public and professional information resource for influenza and to serve as a network in the exchange of information and news related to influenza.

• What to expect this influenza season - Contemporary Pediatrics
  Thu, 29 Sep 2022 18:07 GMT
• Influenza case confirmed in Yellowstone Co. - NBC Montana
  Thu, 29 Sep 2022 21:55 GMT
• Influenza increases risk of heart attack - Dominican Today
  Wed, 28 Sep 2022 16:34 GMT
• New recommendations for the composition of influenza vaccines in 2023 for the southern hemisphere - World Health Organization
  Fri, 23 Sep 2022 13:01 GMT
• For the birds: Battling the threat of avian influenza | Cornell Chronicle - Cornell Chronicle
  Wed, 28 Sep 2022 15:27 GMT
• Influenza effects and prevention in children - Contemporary Pediatrics
  Wed, 28 Sep 2022 19:51 GMT
• Novel and Variant Influenza Viruses | Georgia Department of Public Health - Georgia.gov
  Fri, 16 Sep 2022 07:00 GMT
• Health Advisory: Variant Influenza Virus Infections: Summer and Fall 2022 Recommendations - City of St. Louis
  Thu, 01 Sep 2022 07:00 GMT
• 2022-2023 Influenza Season Looks to Be Severe - Pharmacy Times
  Thu, 22 Sep 2022 20:50 GMT
• The evolutionary footprint of influenza A subtype H3N2 strains in Bangladesh: implication of vaccine strain selection | Scientific Reports - Nature.com
  Wed, 28 Sep 2022 12:21 GMT
• Is A Universal Influenza Vaccine— One Shot For All Strains— On The Horizon? - Forbes
  Mon, 26 Sep 2022 14:13 GMT
• Influenza Diagnostics Market worth $1.1 billion by 2026 - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets - GlobeNewswire
  Thu, 29 Sep 2022 14:30 GMT
• Seventy years of GISRS – the Global Influenza Surveillance & Response System - World Health Organization
  Mon, 19 Sep 2022 07:00 GMT
• Walz lifts trucking restrictions in response to avian influenza - brownfieldagnews.com
  Thu, 29 Sep 2022 19:27 GMT
• Swine Influenza A Virus (Swine Flu) | Georgia Department of Public Health - Georgia.gov
  Fri, 16 Sep 2022 07:00 GMT

• PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (116): Europe (Russia) zoo, wild bird, backyard, HPAI H5N1, OIE
  Mon, 20 Sep 2021 15:46:50 -0400
  Avian Influenza H5N1 -- Russia
  Summary
  Report type: immediate notification
  Started: 27 Aug 2021
  Confirmed: 2 Sep 2021
  Reported: 15 Sep 2021
  Reason for notification: recurrence
  Last occurrence: 13 Dec 2020
  Causal agent: highly pathogenic avian influenza virus
  Serotype: H5N1
  Nature of diagnosis: clinical, laboratory
  This event pertains to a defined zone within the country.
  New outbreaks (3)
  Summary of outbreaks
  Total outbreaks (3)
  Outbreak location 1: Zateryanny mir, Chelyabinsk gorsovet,


• PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human (20): Cambodia (SI) H9N2
  Sun, 19 Sep 2021 19:23:42 -0400
  Avian Influenza -- Cambodia
  Abstract
  ---------
  In February 2021, routine sentinel surveillance for influenza-like illness in Cambodia detected a human avian influenza A(H9N2) virus infection. Investigations identified no recent H9N2 virus infections in 43 close contacts. One chicken sample from the infected child's house was positive for H9N2 virus and genetically similar to the human virus.
  --
  Communicated by:
  Jurre Siegers
  Institute Pasteur du Cambodge
  
  [ProMED thanks Jurre Siegers for sharing the early

• A multiplex real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay for differentiation of classical and variant II strains of avian infectious bronchitis virus Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  Identification of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) genotypes is essential for controlling infectious bronchitis (IB) disease, because vaccines that differ from the circulating strains might not provide efficient cross-protection. In Egypt, IBV strain typing is a difficult process, due to the widespread distribution of four genotype lineages (GI-13, GI-23, GI-1, and GI-16), which may contribute to IBV vaccination failure. In this study, we developed a multiplex real-time quantitative...
• Influenza A Virus Neuraminidase Inhibitors Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  Depending on the strain, influenza A virus causes animal, zoonotic, pandemic, or seasonal influenza with varying degrees of severity. Two surface glycoprotein spikes, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), are the most important influenza A virus antigens. NA plays an important role in the propagation of influenza virus by removing terminal sialic acid from sialyl decoy receptors and thereby facilitating the release of viruses from traps such as in mucus and on infected cells. Some NA...
• Synthesis and Neuraminidase Inhibitory Activity of Sialic Acid Analogues with Fluoro, Phosphono, and Sulfo Functionalities Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  Methods to synthesize influenza virus inhibitors with fluoro, phosphono, and/or sulfo functional groups are described. The resulting sialic acid analogues are produced from the natural substrate N-acetylneuraminic acid as starting material. Fluorescent assay methods for inhibition of influenza neuraminidase and virus proliferation are also provided.
• Assays for Determining the Sialidase Activity of Influenza Viruses and Monitoring Influenza Virus Susceptibility to Neuraminidase Inhibitors Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  Three types of assays--colorimetric, fluorescent, and chemiluminescent--are used to determine the sialidase (neuraminidase: NA) activity of influenza viruses. The fluorescent assay is cost-effective and applicable for many laboratories and is, therefore, commonly used for global monitoring of the NA inhibitor susceptibility of influenza viruses. Here, I describe, in detail, protocols for the fluorescence-based NA activity assay and the NA inhibition assay, which are used to determine the NA...
• Enzymatic Substrates and Fluorescence Imaging of Influenza Virus Sialidase Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  Immunostaining with an antiviral antibody is usually performed to visualize virus-infected cells. In contrast, this study established an easy method for fluorescence (FL) imaging of cells infected with influenza A and B viruses and some paramyxoviruses without the need for cell fixation and an antiviral antibody. These viruses and the cells they have infected express the viral surface enzymes "neuraminidase" or "hemagglutinin-neuraminidase," which show sialidase activity. Sialidase activity is...
• Roles of Glycans and Non-glycans on the Epithelium and in the Immune System in H1-H18 Influenza A Virus Infections Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  The large variation of influenza A viruses (IAVs) in various susceptible hosts and their rapid evolution, which allows host/tissue switching, host immune escape, vaccine escape, and drug resistance, are difficult challenges for influenza control in all countries worldwide. Access and binding of the IAV to actual receptors at endocytic sites is critical for the establishment of influenza infection. In this chapter, the progress in identification of and roles of glycans and non-glycans on the...
• Evaluation of the Glycan-Binding and Esterase Activities of Hemagglutinin-Esterase-Fusion Glycoprotein from Influenza D Virus Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  Influenza D virus (IDV) is a new member of influenza virus that uses cattle as the primary reservoir and infects multiple agricultural animals. Similar to influenza C virus (ICV), IDV also has seven segments in its genome and has only one major surface glycoprotein, called the hemagglutinin-esterase-fusion (HEF) protein, for receptor-binding, receptor-destroying, and membrane fusion. HEF utilizes 9-O-acetylated sialic acids as its receptor and has both receptor binding and esterase activities,...
• Characterization of Influenza Virus Binding to Receptors on Isolated Cell Membranes Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  An interplay between receptor-binding properties of influenza viruses (IVs) and spectrum of sialic acid-containing receptors on target cells in birds and mammals determine viral host range, tissue tropism, and pathogenicity. Here, we describe method that allows to characterize binding of IVs to biologically relevant cellular receptors using a conventional solid-phase enzyme-linked assay. In this method, we isolate plasma membranes from respiratory and intestinal epithelial cells of animal origin...
• Receptor-Binding Assay for Avian Influenza Viruses Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  It is well known that influenza viruses utilize host cell glycans for virus attachment factors via their major glycoprotein, hemagglutinin (HA), to initiate their invasion to host cells. Unlike well-known theories in human and avian influenza viruses, barriers laying between interspecies transmission of influenza viruses among bird species are not well understood. Recently, it was speculated that glycan binding of the HA to fucosylated Siaα2-3Gal is related to the expansion in the host range of...
• Quantification of Receptor Association, Dissociation, and NA-Dependent Motility of Influenza A Particles by Biolayer Interferometry Thu, 29 Sep 2022 06:00:00 -0400
  We describe a method for real-time analysis and quantification of influenza A virus (IAV)-receptor interactions by biolayer interferometry (BLI). Biotinylated synthetic sialoglycans or sialoglycoproteins (biotinylated or Fc-tagged) were immobilized on the tip of biosensors (coated with streptavidin or protein A) that were subsequently dipped into IAV particle solutions in 96-well plates. Association and/or dissociation of IAV particles was recorded in consecutive steps in buffers of choice. From...