Journ.Infect.Dis. Obesity Increases the Duration of Influenza A Virus Shedding in Adults

[tetano]

Obesity Increases the Duration of Influenza A Virus Shedding in Adults

Hannah E Maier Roger Lopez Nery Sanchez Sophia Ng Lionel Gresh Sergio Ojeda Raquel Burger-Calderon Guillermina Kuan Eva Harris Angel Balmaseda ... Show more


The Journal of Infectious Diseases, jiy370, https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiy370

Published:
02 August 2018

Article history





Abstract

Epidemiologic studies indicate that obesity increases the risk of severe complications and death from influenza virus infections, especially in elderly individuals. This work investigates the effect of obesity on the duration of viral shedding within household transmission studies in Managua, Nicaragua, over 3 seasons (2015?2017). Symptomatic obese adults were shown to shed influenza A virus 42% longer than nonobese adults (adjusted event time ratio [ETR], 1.42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06?1.89); no association was observed with influenza B virus shedding duration. Even among paucisymptomatic and asymptomatic adults, obesity increased the influenza A shedding duration by 104% (adjusted ETR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.35?3.09). These findings suggest that obesity may play an important role in influenza transmission.

https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiy370/5051913

[tetano]

Beyond Disease Severity: The Impact of Obesity on Influenza A Virus Shedding

Stacey Schultz-Cherry

The Journal of Infectious Diseases, jiy371, https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiy371

Published:
02 August 2018

Article history





Between 1975 and 2016, worldwide obesity rates have nearly tripled, with >1.9 billion adults aged ≥18 years (39%) considered overweight and 650 million (13%) considered obese [1]. An increasing percentage of children are also becoming obese. While increased weight is a recognized risk factor for several diseases, including diabetes, certain cancers, and cardiovascular diseases, this is not limited to noncommunicable diseases. Epidemiologic studies during the 2009 influenza pandemic highlighted, for the first time, that obesity was a high-risk factor for developing severe complications and dying from influenza virus infection [2, 3]. Although the mechanism(s) for increased disease severity in humans is unknown, animal models suggest that the increased disease severity may be multifactorial, involving issues such as viral spread and lung repair [4, 5] neutrophil extracellular trap formation [6], and modulation of the lung metabolome [7]. However, nothing was known about the impact of obesity on viral shedding and transmission. The studies reported by Maier et al in this issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases provide the first evidence that obesity influences may influence the transmission of the virus, in addition to disease severity [8].

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https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiy371/5051914