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Related Concept Videos

Influenza01:27

Influenza

Influenza is an acute, highly communicable viral disease that affects the respiratory tract and is responsible for seasonal epidemics worldwide. Influenza A is the most prevalent type associated with widespread outbreaks and is subtyped based on two surface glycoproteins: hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N), as in H1N1. These glycoproteins are essential for viral infectivity, transmission, and immune recognition. Transmission occurs primarily through respiratory droplets and contaminated...
Infectious Diseases and Their Occurrence01:28

Infectious Diseases and Their Occurrence

Infectious diseases appear in populations through various transmission patterns, influenced by pathogen characteristics, population immunity, environmental conditions, and social behavior. Understanding these patterns is essential for effective public health surveillance and intervention. These categories—sporadic, outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, and endemic—help frame the nature and scope of disease events.Sporadic diseases occur irregularly and infrequently, without a predictable temporal or...
Vaccinations01:51

Vaccinations

Overview
Viral Recombination00:57

Viral Recombination

Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.
Uncertainty: Confidence Intervals00:54

Uncertainty: Confidence Intervals

The confidence interval is the range of values around the mean that contains the true mean. It is expressed as a probability percentage. The interpretation of a 95% confidence interval, for instance, is that the statistician is 95% confident that the true mean falls within the interval. The upper and lower limits of this range are known as confidence limits. The confidence limits for the true mean are estimated from the sample's mean, the standard deviation, and the statistical factor 't,' or...
Uncertainty: Overview00:59

Uncertainty: Overview

In analytical chemistry, we often perform repetitive measurements to detect and minimize inaccuracies caused by both determinate and indeterminate errors. Despite the cares we take, the presence of random errors means that repeated measurements almost never have exactly the same magnitude. The collective difference between these measurements - observed values - and the estimated or expected value is called uncertainty. Uncertainty is conventionally written after the estimated or expected value.

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Related Experiment Video

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A Luciferase-fluorescent Reporter Influenza Virus for Live Imaging and Quantification of Viral Infection
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A Luciferase-fluorescent Reporter Influenza Virus for Live Imaging and Quantification of Viral Infection

Published on: August 14, 2019

Pandemic influenza: certain uncertainties.

David M Morens1, Jeffery K Taubenberger

  • 1National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. dm270q@NIH.GOV.

Reviews in Medical Virology
|June 28, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Influenza pandemics are unpredictable events, not a single phenomenon. Understanding their diverse evolutionary paths and transmission is crucial for better prevention strategies.

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Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Major influenza epidemics and pandemics have occurred for centuries, often unexpectedly.
  • Modern understanding often views pandemic influenza as a predictable phenomenon with set rules.
  • However, historical and recent evidence suggests significant unpredictability and complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the notion of predictable pandemic influenza.
  • To highlight the heterogeneity and uncertainties surrounding influenza pandemics.
  • To underscore the gaps in scientific knowledge hindering prediction and prevention.

Main Methods:

  • Review of historical and contemporary influenza pandemic events.
  • Analysis of genetic mechanisms and evolutionary patterns of influenza viruses.
  • Examination of interspecies transmission and viral reservoir dynamics.

Main Results:

  • Pandemic influenza is not a single, uniform phenomenon but a collection of diverse viral evolutionary events.
  • Pandemics arise through various genetic mechanisms and lack predictable patterns in mortality or recurrence.
  • Significant transmission between animal hosts and the establishment of viral reservoirs are common.
  • Recent decades reveal numerous unanticipated events, exposing knowledge gaps.

Conclusions:

  • Influenza pandemics are highly heterogeneous, with differences often overshadowing similarities.
  • The determinants of pandemic behavior remain poorly understood, complicating prediction.
  • Current uncertainties impede effective planning for influenza pandemic prevention.