{Excerpts} To the Editor : After a decade of no reported human cases, Cambodia faces a resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus infections , with an overall mortality of 38%. Cases have occurred primarily in children and adolescents who were exposed to infected poultry (...). From February 2023 through August 2024, a total of 16 infections were detected through the long-standing national influenza-like illness and severe acute respiratory infection surveillance systems, both of which were strengthened by expanded laboratory-testing capacity that was developed during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. All 16 patients reported exposure to sick or dead poultry , and outbreak investigations identified contemporary, genetically similar viruses in poultry collected in or around case households or from active, longitudinal surveillance of live-bird markets . Genomic sequencing revealed an avian origin for all the human infections , and sequences have been...
ABSTRACT Common cold coronaviruses, such as OC43 and HKU1, typically cause mild respiratory infections in healthy people. However, they can lead to severe illness in high-risk groups , including immunocompromised individuals and older adults. Currently, there is no clinically approved vaccine to prevent infection by common cold coronaviruses. Here, we developed an mRNA vaccine expressing a stabilized spike protein derived from OC43 coronavirus and tested its efficacy in different challenge models in C57BL/6 mice . This novel OC43 vaccine elicited OC43-specific immune responses, as well as cross-reactive immune response against other embecoviruses , including HKU1 and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV-A59). Interestingly, this OC43 vaccine protected mice not only against a lethal OC43 infection but also against a distant embecovirus, MHV-A59. These findings provide insights for the development of common cold coronavirus vaccines, demonstrating their potential to protect against various c...