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Tag: Flu (page 1 of 2)

09.05.2018

airport trays are full of germs

airport tray germs

Trays at airport security stations are loaded with microbes. A new study shows they can contain more viruses than toilets.

Air travel is a well known culprit in the spread of infectious diseases, such as the common cold and the flu. We can now add another potential mechanism for the spread of these types of infections, thanks to a new study published in BMC Infection Diseases last month.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham in England and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare swabbed the trays and other airport surfaces after peak travel times, then identified traces of common respiratory viruses that were found in those samples. They looked at a variety of surfaces including toilets, pay machines, hand rails and luggage trays. Of all of the surfaces that they sampled, the luggage trays contained the most identifiable traces of respiratory viruses. Out of the 8 tray samples, 4 of them were positive for respiratory viruses like rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, and influenza, or the flu. Out of the 14 samples from the toilet flush button, zero gave positive results.

We know that objects that are frequently handled or manipulated with our hands tend to be laden with bacteria. Mobile phones, tv remotes and computer keyboards have been identified as having high bacterial counts. It now appears that the same applies to airport trays.

One caveat of the study is that although traces of viral DNA were found on various surfaces, this does not necessarily mean that they were contagious or able to infect humans. However, viruses and microbes have been known to survive for a few days on surfaces.

What can you do to minimize your risk of infection? The best advice still applies:  Wash your hands!

09.17.2013

a forever flu shot

 

Flu Shot

Once again it’s time for flu vaccinations and Science magazine teases us with the idea of a once in a life time flu vaccine:

Flu vaccines trigger production of antibodies that attach to hemagglutinin, a protein on the surface of the virus that helps it infect cells. But hemagglutinin mutates so rapidly that antibodies to one human variant have limited power against another, requiring vaccine makers to reformulate their shots each year. And when a novel animal flu jumps from birds or pigs into humans, existing immunity offers little defense and a pandemic can arise. Stopping it would require a new vaccine, which inevitably can’t be developed quickly enough.

Recently, researchers have found a possible solution: “broadly neutralizing antibodies” (bNAbs) in humans to hemagglutinin, able to bind most, if not all, variants. Like bNAbs discovered for HIV (see main article, p. 1168), they have sparked provocative ideas about how to make a single vaccine that could thwart all strains of the virus.

…

The bNAbs to influenza are slow to develop in part because hemagglutinin naturally crowds the viral surface, hiding the stem regions of the protein from the immune system. Led by virologist Gary Nabel, the group described in the 4 July issue of Nature how it created an artificial, self-assembling nanoparticle called ferritin, an iron-storage protein, that expresses hemagglutinins at an unnatural angle, exposing their stalks. This new presentation of the protein leads to a potent bNAb response.

03.01.2013

fighting the flu

Tamiflu aka Oseltamivir

Oseltamivir, also known as Tamiflu, inhibits the enzyme neuraminidase in influenza virus. The lab of Stephen Winters has developed new neuraminidase inhibitors that bind the enzyme covalently, and may have potential as new antiviral drugs.

Each year untold numbers of people come down with the flu during flu season. There are several antiviral medications that can be used to treat the flu and get rid of the infection. The most popular of these is Tamiflu, which works by inhibiting an enzyme called neuraminidase present in the influenza virus. Neuraminidase is the “N” in the strain names (i.e. H1N1, H3N2, etc.). With prolonged exposure, flu strains can become resistant to antiviral medications like Tamiflu. So there is a need for new drugs to be developed. Chemical and Engineering News covers a recent Science paper from the lab of Stephen G. Winters that investigates new neuraminidase inhibitors:

Four neuraminidase inhibitors are approved or in development for postinfection treatment. Tamiflu is the most popular, but flu can evolve into strains insensitive to it. Relenza is administered by oral inhalation, which has limited its use. Peramivir was withdrawn from a Phase III trial last year, and laninamivir is scheduled to enter Phase II, although both are approved in Asia.

The new compounds emerged from efforts by Stephen G. Withers and coworkers to determine how neuraminidase works molecularly (Science,DOI: 10.1126/science.1232552). Their study shows that neuraminidase catalyzes sialic acid cleavage by a mechanism involving a covalent intermediate. They determined the structure of the intermediate and designed sialic acid analogs that bond covalently to the viral neuraminidase active site but release very slowly, thus disabling it, and do not inhibit human neuraminidase. The compounds may evade viral resistance more effectively than Tamiflu because their structures more closely resemble that of sialic acid. Also, covalent bonding permanently inactivates the neuraminidase active site; Tamiflu and the three other inhibitors bind noncovalently.

The Centre for Drug Research & Development, in Vancouver, is seeking private-sector partners and investors to help develop the new inhibitors commercially.

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