Cell host and Microbe: Circulating Avian Influenza Viruses Closely Related to the 1918 Virus Have Pandemic Potential

[tetano]

Circulating Avian Influenza Viruses Closely Related to the 1918 Virus Have Pandemic Potential
Tokiko Watanabe12
,
Gongxun Zhong12
,
Colin A. Russell12
,
Noriko Nakajima
,
Masato Hatta
,
Anthony Hanson
,
Ryan McBride
,
David F. Burke
,
Kenta Takahashi
,
Satoshi Fukuyama
,
Yuriko Tomita
,
Eileen A. Maher
,
Shinji Watanabe
,
Masaki Imai
,
Gabriele Neumann
,
Hideki Hasegawa
,
James C. Paulson
,
Derek J. Smith
,
Yoshihiro Kawaokaemail
12Co-first authors
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2014.05.006




Highlights

?Current circulating avian flu viruses encode proteins similar to the 1918 virus
?A 1918-like virus composed of avian influenza virus segments was generated
?The 1918-like virus is more pathogenic in mammals than an authentic avian flu virus
?Seven amino acid substitutions were sufficient to confer transmission in ferrets

Summary

Wild birds harbor a large gene pool of influenza A viruses that have the potential to cause influenza pandemics. Foreseeing and understanding this potential is important for effective surveillance. Our phylogenetic and geographic analyses revealed the global prevalence of avian influenza virus genes whose proteins differ only a few amino acids from the 1918 pandemic influenza virus, suggesting that 1918-like pandemic viruses may emerge in the future. To assess this risk, we generated and characterized a virus composed of avian influenza viral segments with high homology to the 1918 virus. This virus exhibited pathogenicity in mice and ferrets higher than that in an authentic avian influenza virus. Further, acquisition of seven amino acid substitutions in the viral polymerases and the hemagglutinin surface glycoprotein conferred respiratory droplet transmission to the 1918-like avian virus in ferrets, demonstrating that contemporary avian influenza viruses with 1918 virus-like proteins may have pandemic potential.


full text

http://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128%2814%2900163-2

[tetano]

Re: Cell host and Microbe: Circulating Avian Influenza Viruses Closely Related to the 1918 Virus Have Pandemic Potential

Cell Host Microbe. 2014 Jun 11;15(6):653-654. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2014.05.019.
Influenza Viruses En Route from Birds to Man.
Klenk HD.
Author information
Abstract

Human and other mammalian influenza viruses emerge from a large gene pool provided by avian influenza viruses. Two recent studies (Watanabe et al., 2014; Linster et al., 2014) show that adaptation to a mammalian host depends on a limited number of mutations that allow airborne transmission, a specific trait of the mammalian viruses.

Copyright ? 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PMID:
24922565
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24922565