Swine Influenza Virus

Viral cell culturing has become a commonly used method for the cultivation of viruses. Before cell cultures, many viruses were propagated by the use of an embryonated egg. However, today embryonated eggs are still used for the production of vaccines and for the isolation of avian and influenza viruses. In addition, there are several procedures that must be carried out when a virus is grown in an embryonated egg. For instance, the eggs must be candled (to determine viability) and disinfected before a hole is drilled. Next, the virus must be injected into the appropriate area of a 5-14 day old embryonated egg. Signs of successful viral growth include pocks, hemagglutination, or death of the embryo 2-5 days after injection. In this lab, the purpose was to inject Influenza A Virus (H1N1) strain APR/8/34 into the chorioallantoic sac of a 9-11 day old embryonated egg. Our hypothesis was that the Influenza A virus will grow successfully in the embryonated egg to yield successful results for the following lab.

Influenza also known as the “Flu” is an ongoing health concern each year. It is most prevalent during the fall and winter seasons. Influenza is highly contagious and can spread rapidly when precautions are ignored. Every year numerous cases erupt despite education, health promotion and vaccinations. Flu related complications result in hospitalizations and even death each year, costing billions of dollars to be used in treatment and income lost due to sick days and unproductivity on the infected person’s behalf. Zimmerman et al. 2010 concurs stating, “Seasonal influenza leads to about 36,000 deaths annually in the United States and more than 226,000 hospitalizations.” (Zimmerman et al. 2010). Loerbroks et al. 2012 also states “Influenza and

The influenza virus usually has a round shape; it can be elongated or even have an irregular shape at times. In addition, it has a layer of spikes on its exterior. Note that there are two different types of these spikes. Each spike has its own protein, one is the hemagglutinin (HA) protein and the other is the neuraminidase (NA) protein. The HA protein lets the virus to attach to a cell, so it can enter into a host cell and start the infection process (every virus must enter cells in order to make more copies of themselves). The NA protein is needed for the virus to leave the host cell, so that new viruses that were made inside the host cell can infect more cells. Because these proteins are present on the surface of the virus, they are visible to the human immune system. Inside the layer of spikes, are eight pieces of RNA that contain the genetic information for making new copies of the virus. Each segment contains instructions to make one or more proteins of the virus.

Influenza virus has caused serious respiratory illness and death over the past centuries. Epidemics and pandemics due to Influenza virus were known to cause morbidity and mortality in humans and other animals. Pandemics have been documented since the 16th century (WHO, 2005) and in the last 400 years, at least 31 pandemics have been recorded (Lazzari and Stohr, 2004). Influenza virus belongs to the family Orthomyxoviridae, which is characterized by a segmented, minus-stranded RNA genome. Influenza viruses are irregular, spherical (80-120 nm diameter) or filamentous structures and their surfaces are studded with rod-shaped hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) spikes (Betts, 1995). Influenza viruses are of three types A, B, and C. The typing

Wild birds are considered the reservoir of the type A influenza virus and antigenic shifts caused by mutations are present in many animal reservoir. Antigenic shifts are dangerous because it can be unaffected by the host’s immune system. Pigs can be infected by both human and animal influenza virus, which may lead to recombination and creation of new strains that can be transmitted. Influenza virus can be transmitted from animal to human in cases such as the bird flu (H5N1) or swine flu (H1N1), which experienced an outbreak in

The virus has been studied in detail during 2009-2010. Being a complex virus, it is important to study the current scenario and the trends of the circulating virus. During 2015, the incidence of pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus among patients presenting with ILI, diagnosed in our tertiary care hospital during the study period was 18.6%. In the 2012-2013 the incidence of pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus among patients presenting with ILI, was 8.20% indicating a sharp increase in the number of cases. 9 After 2010, the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A reappeared in several northern and western states of the country during the winter months of 2012-2013. The presently ongoing resurgence since December 2014 however appears to be worse than the previous one, leading to over 30,000 cases and 2000 deaths countrywide (as of 28th March,2015) as compared to 5044 cases and 405 deaths in 2012 and 5250 cases and 692 deaths in 2013.10 The resurgent waves lead to more number of hospitalizations and deaths due to pdmH1N1 as compared to the rest part of the year and appear at an interval of 1.5-2

A virus is “snippet of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA” (YouTube, Dr. Tony Fauci, H1N1 Influenza a Virus, 2009) that is able to replicate itself only in other cells. Unlike bacteria, a virus cannot thrive on its own. A virus has to break into a cell and take control of the cell functions in order to replicate, often causing disease. Some viruses are benign, and others cause diseases like polio, smallpox, and measles. There are be three types of influenza: A, B, and C, which are all found in humans. Influenza A is found in “birds, pigs, whales, horses, and seals” (Microbiology: An Introduction, 2016, pp. 364) and also humans. It has the ability to attack the respiratory system, nose, throat, and lungs. Influenza A can also cause fever, chills, sore throat, runny nose, cough, muscle aches, and fatigue. The swine flu (influenza a virus) is an acute virus. The infected person shows the symptom of

The Influenza virus seems to be very difficult to deal with in general due to its mutation which makes it require different flu vaccines annually. Considering the fact that it contains eight different RNA strands covered by a lipid layer as stated. Having your test come out false negative shows how tricky this virus could

Influenza is a highly contagious disease which can spread across the population by the body secretions which contain the active influenza virus (Collignon & Carnie, 2006). It poses serious threats to the society as it promotes fear, anxiety, and discrimination, and consequently causes destruction to the normal function of the society (Selgelid, 2009). Unless people develop immunity against the influenza virus (Collignon & Carnie, 2006), an influenza pandemic will remain a global emergency as extremely high number of people all over the world will require care at the same time (Kotalik, 2005). Since the global impact of pandemic varies across history, prediction regarding the magnitude of impact will often be overestimated or underestimated

The most widely quoted date for the beginning of recorded history of avian influenza (initially known as fowl plague) was in 1878 when it was differentiated from other diseases that caused high mortality rates in birds. Fowl plague, however, also included Newcastle disease until as recently as the 1950s. Between 1959 and 1995, there were 15 recorded occasions of the emergence of HPAI viruses in poultry, but losses were minimal. Between 1996 and 2008 however, HPAI outbreaks in poultry have occurred at least 11 times and 4 of these outbreaks have involved millions of birds (Alexander and brown, 2009). In the 1990s, the world’s poultry population grew 76% in developing countries and 23% in developed countries, contributing to the increased prevalence

Since December 2014, the USDA has confirmed numerous cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 in the Pacific, Central, and Mississippi flyways, known as migratory pathways. This makes more sense to the fact that wild birds can carry this influenza, and that more birds go through these migratory pathways, instead of in other regions.

The Avian Influenza virus also known as Bird flu is a disease that infects birds such as, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. Symptoms of the infection are respiratory disease, unable to produce eggs, and fatality. Usually the symptoms are unnoticeable. There are two main types of Asian Influenza is LPAI and HPAI. LPAI is low pathogenicity meaning birds are not as likely to die from the virus. HPAI H5 is highly pathogenic, more severe and has a higher mortality rate. Outbreaks of this disease started in Europe and Asian. In 2015 there has been reports that AI has infected poultry in the United States.

The spread of influenza is a virus that affects many people within a population. Influenza is usually spread through the air by coughs or sneezes that contain the influenza virus (Acharya & Thapa, 2016, p. 69). The impacts of contracting influenza during an outbreak are astounding as influenza can lead to missed days of work, school, and can have a negative economic effect on patients who do not have health insurance plans. If symptoms of influenza worsen, people are hospitalized and can easily succumb to pneumonia. As influenza is a common occurrence among the human population, consuming dietary supplements such as antioxidants and herbs may be able to prevent an individual from influenza or lower the impact of influenza in a person’s body.

The H1N1 is a flu virus that was first detected in 2009 in farm animals. It was called the swine flu because the virus was most similar to those mostly in pigs. The H1N1 flu virus is currently a contagious flu, being commonly found in humans and animals. Even though the flu is found in pigs, you cannot obtain the flu by eating properly hand and cooked pork or pork products. However, you can attain the virus when inhaling or engulfing droplets of the virus from people either sneezing or coughing onto you. Unfortunately, if you contain the virus, you would start to experience symptoms that are similar to most influenza infections such as fever, coughing, nasal secretions, fatigue, and headaches. Most people that obtain the virus will start to get a sore throat, rash, body aches, chills, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The first period from being exposed to the flu is about one to four days, with an average of two days. If the patient experiences symptoms for a whole two weeks, the flu will last longer and will eventually cause a severe infection. If the symptoms continue to last longer than two weeks, then you might have to be hospitalized and be treated with more medical attention. But luckily

With a huge number of victims, 80 to 100 million, since 1918, the influenza is considered as one of the most pandemic diseases ever. There are three types of influenza virus: influenza virus A, influenza virus B, and influenza virus c. These are a subtypes of the virus family orthomyx-oviride. The types B and C do not cause pandemic diseases while type A does. The type A classified into three main subtype H1.N1, H1.N2, and H3.N2. The (H.N) refers to the two kinds of proteins on the surface of the virus (hemagglutinin and neuraminidase). The difference in numbers is due to the difference in protein variability. A H1.N1 virus which is widely known as Spanish flu is the only type that can transmit from human to human. The H5.N1, or “bird flu”