• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

Genetic and antigenic divergence in the influenza A(H3N2) virus circulating between 2016 and 2017 in Thailand

tetano

Editor, Senior Moderator
PLoS One. 2017 Dec 18;12(12):e0189511. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189511. eCollection 2017.
[h=1]Genetic and antigenic divergence in the influenza A(H3N2) virus circulating between 2016 and 2017 in Thailand.[/h] Suntronwong N[SUP]1[/SUP], Klinfueng S[SUP]1[/SUP], Vichiwattana P[SUP]1[/SUP], Korkong S[SUP]1[/SUP], Thongmee T[SUP]1[/SUP], Vongpunsawad S[SUP]1[/SUP], Poovorawan Y[SUP]1[/SUP].
[h=3]Author information[/h]

[h=3]Abstract[/h] Influenza virus evolves rapidly due to the accumulated genetic variations on the viral sequence. Unlike in North America and Europe, influenza season in the tropical Southeast Asia spans both the rainy and cool seasons. Thus, influenza epidemiology and viral evolution sometimes differ from other regions, which affect the ever-changing efficacy of the vaccine. To monitor the current circulating influenza viruses in this region, we determined the predominant influenza virus strains circulating in Thailand between January 2016 and June 2017 by screening 7,228 samples from patients with influenza-like illness. During this time, influenza A(H3N2) virus was the predominant influenza virus detected. We then phylogenetically compared the hemagglutinin (HA) gene from a subset of these A(H3N2) strains (n = 62) to the reference sequences and evaluated amino acid changes in the dominant antigenic epitopes on the HA protein structure. The divergence of the circulating A(H3N2) from the A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 vaccine strain formed five genetic groups (designated I to V) within the 3C.2a clade. Our results suggest a marked drift of the current circulating A(H3N2) strains in Thailand, which collectively contributed to the declining predicted vaccine effectiveness (VE) from 74% in 2016 down to 48% in 2017.


PMID: 29252990 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189511
Free full text
 
Back
Top Bottom