ETIDIOH - NEW

Abstract In April 2024, Vietnam confirmed its first human case of influenza A( H9N2 ) in a 37-year-old man, marking a critical point in regional infectious disease monitoring and response. This case underscores the importance of robust surveillance systems and One Health collaboration in managing emerging zoonotic threats. Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal,  https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/31/2/24-1146_article _____

Summary The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to clinicians and laboratories due to sporadic human infections with avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses amid high levels of seasonal influenza activity .  CDC is recommending a shortened timeline for subtyping all influenza A specimens among hospitalized patients and increasing efforts at clinical laboratories to identify non-seasonal influenza .  Clinicians and laboratorians are reminded to test for influenza in patients with suspected influenza and, going forward, to now expedite the subtyping of influenza A-positive specimens from hospitalized patients, particularly those in an intensive care unit (ICU). This approach can help prevent delays in identifying human infections with avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses, supporting optimal patient care and timely infection control and case investigation. Background A panzootic of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1...

ABSTRACT Respiratory and encephalitic virus infections represent a significant risk to public health globally . Detailed investigations of immunological responses and disease outcomes during sequential virus infections are rare. Here, we define the impact of influenza virus infection on a subsequent virus encephalitis . We used a model system in which mice were given influenza A virus (IAV) infection 8 days prior to Semliki Forest virus (SFV) infection (IAV→SFV). IAV infection clearly attenuated the subsequent SFV infection with reduced titers of infectious SFV and lower levels of cytokines and chemokines in the central nervous system ( CNS ). In contrast, the SFV viremia in both IAV→SFV and SFV-only mice was comparable. Increased type I interferon (IFN) levels in the CNS after IAV infection might have contributed to some level of protection towards SFV infection in the CNS, suggesting that early control of SFV replication in the CNS during IAV→SFV infection led to reduced adaptive res...

Abstract The European subtype of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV-Eur; species Orthoflavivirus encephalitidis , family Flaviviridae ) was the only tick-borne flavivirus present in central Europe known to cause neurologic disease in humans and several animal species . Here, we report a tick-borne flavivirus isolated from Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra) with encephalitis and attached ticks , present over a wide area in the Alps . Cases were detected in 2017 in Salzburg, Austria , and 2023 in Lombardy and Piedmont, Italy . The virus strains exhibit 94.8–97.3% nucleotide identities to each other and are more closely related to Louping ill viruses (LIV; Orthoflavivirus loupingi ; 90–92% identities) than to TBEV-Eur (less than 88%). The chamois-derived virus strains, tentatively termed “ Alpine chamois encephalitis virus ”, form a well-supported independent genetic clade with Spanish goat encephalitis virus , clearly separated from other LIV. This supports its designation a...

Abstract Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) of subtype H5N1 (clade 2.3.4.4b) have spread worldwide and caused the death of hundreds of millions of wild birds and domestic poultry . Moreover, spill over of H5N1 HPAIV from infected birds to more than 50 different mammalian species including humans has been recorded. While, licensed vaccines for protection of avian or mammalian species are not yet available, a few candidate vaccines are being trialled . Here, we report on the experimental vaccination of chickens and captive wild birds using a propagation-defective vesicular stomatitis virus ( VSV ), in which the essential envelope glycoprotein (G) protein gene was replaced by a modified hemagglutinin gene derived from a clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 isolated in 2022 in the animal park of Bern, Switzerland. VSV∆G(H5mb) was produced on helper cells providing the VSV G protein in trans. Specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens that were immunized twice via the intramuscular route with adju...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b was confirmed on one poultry premises in Culebra Municipality, Puerto Rico . This is the first confirmed case of HPAI in poultry from Puerto Rico. Full genotyping confirms the virus as a reassortant of the A3 genotype with North American wild bird lineage viruses ( AM PB2, PA, NP ). Comparisons of the virus to other recent detections from wild birds and North America reports are in progress. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in conjunction with State Animal Health and Wildlife Officials, are conducting comprehensive epidemiological investigations and enhanced surveillance in response to the HPAI H5N1 related events. Source: WOAH,  https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-review/6185 _____

{Excerpt} HONOLULU — The Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) State Laboratories Division has detected H5 avian influenza (bird flu) at very low levels in wastewater samples collected at the Līhuʻe Wastewater Treatment Plant on Kauaʻi. The first detection was from a sample collected on Dec. 11, 2024 , that was so low that it was not considered a positive result.  Samples collected on Dec. 18, 2024 and Jan. 8, 2025 had similar detections.  While none is considered a positive result , the consistent very low-level detections indicate a high likelihood that H5 bird flu virus is on Kauaʻi.  No H5 virus infections of birds, dairy cows, or humans have been detected on Kauaʻi to date.  Detection of infected birds in the state has so far been limited to Oʻahu. The H5 bird flu viruses include the H5N1 subtype of bird flu virus that has spread globally in birds since its initial discovery in 1996 and recently has been detected in several mammal species including dairy cows. Wast...