H7N9 influenza: something old, something new ….
1Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, 180 Varick Street, Room 643, New York, NY, USA. steinr01@nyu.edu, richardastein@gmail.com.
International Journal of Clinical Practice
|August 6, 2013
Summary
Three patients in China developed severe pneumonia and multiorgan dysfunction after potential exposure to live bird markets. All cases were fatal, highlighting the need for further investigation into novel respiratory infections.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Three fatal cases of severe pneumonia with respiratory distress and multiorgan dysfunction occurred in China in February 2013.
- Patients presented with symptoms including fever, cough, and respiratory tract infection.
- Two patients had potential exposure to live bird markets, a common source for zoonotic diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report on three severe, fatal respiratory infections in China.
- To investigate potential links to live animal markets.
- To raise awareness of emerging infectious disease threats.
Main Methods:
- Case reporting and clinical observation.
- Review of patient histories, including potential exposures.
- Analysis of epidemiological data.
Main Results:
- All three patients died from severe pneumonia and multiorgan dysfunction.
- Two patients had recent contact with live bird markets.
- The cases did not appear to be epidemiologically linked to each other.
Conclusions:
- The findings suggest a potential novel infectious agent, possibly linked to live bird markets.
- Urgent further investigation is warranted to identify the causative agent and transmission routes.
- These cases underscore the importance of surveillance for severe respiratory illnesses with zoonotic potential.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:27Influenza
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...
00:57Viral 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.
00:36Viral Mutations
A mutation is a change in the sequence of bases of DNA or RNA in a genome. Some mutations occur during replication of the genome due to errors made by the polymerase enzymes that replicate DNA or RNA. Unlike DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase is prone to errors because it is not capable of “proofreading” its work. Viruses with RNA-based genomes, like HIV, therefore accrue mutations faster than viruses with DNA-based genomes. Because mutation and recombination provide the raw material for adaptive...
01:28Infectious 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...
01:51Vaccinations
Overview
02:28Leaky Scanning
During most eukaryotic translation processes, the small 40S ribosome subunit scans an mRNA from its 5' end until it encounters the first start AUG codon. The large 60S ribosomal subunit then joins the smaller one to initiate protein synthesis. The location of the translation initiation is largely determined by the nucleotides near the start codon as there may be multiple translation initiation sites present on the mRNA. Marilyn Kozak discovered that the sequence RCCAUGG (where R stands for...