scholarly journals Human metapneumovirus - what we know now

F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazly Shafagati ◽  
John Williams

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a leading cause of acute respiratory infection, particularly in children, immunocompromised patients, and the elderly. HMPV, which is closely related to avian metapneumovirus subtype C, has circulated for at least 65 years, and nearly every child will be infected with HMPV by the age of 5. However, immunity is incomplete, and re-infections occur throughout adult life. Symptoms are similar to those of other respiratory viral infections, ranging from mild (cough, rhinorrhea, and fever) to more severe (bronchiolitis and pneumonia). The preferred method for diagnosis is reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as HMPV is difficult to culture. Although there have been many advances made in the past 16 years since its discovery, there are still no US Food and Drug Administration-approved antivirals or vaccines available to treat HMPV. Both small animal and non-human primate models have been established for the study of HMPV. This review will focus on the epidemiology, transmission, and clinical manifestations in humans as well as the animal models of HMPV pathogenesis and host immune response.

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-154
Author(s):  
Vasilica Cristescu ◽  
Aurelia Romila ◽  
Luana Andreea Macovei

Polymyalgia rheumatica is a disease that occurs mostly in the elderly and is rarely seen in patients less than 50 years of age. Polymyalgia rheumatica is a vasculitis, which manifests itself as an inflammatory disease of the vascular wall that can affect any type of blood vessel, regardless of its size. It has been considered a form of giant cell arteritis, involving primarily large and medium arteries and to a lesser extent the arterioles. Clinical manifestations are caused by the generic pathogenic process and depend on the characteristics of the damaged organ. PMR is a senescence-related immune disorder. It has been defined as a stand-alone condition and a syndrome referred to as rheumatic polyarteritis with manifestations of giant cell arteritis (especially in cases of Horton�s disease and temporal arteritis) which are commonly associated with polymyalgia. The clinical presentation is clearly dominated by the painful girdle syndrome, with a feeling of general discomfort. Polymyalgia and temporal arteritis may coexist or be consecutive to each other in the same patient, as in most of our patients. The present study describes 3 cases of polymyalgia rheumatica, admitted to the Clinic of Rheumatology of Sf. Apostol Andrei Hospital, Galati. The cases were compared with the literature. Two clinical aspects (polymyalgia rheumatica and/or Horton�s disease) and the relationship between them were also considered. Polymyalgia rheumatica is currently thought to have a multifactorial etiology, in which the following factors play a role: genetic factors or hereditary predisposition (some individuals are more prone to this disease), immune factors and viral infections (triggers of the disease). Other risk factors of polymyalgia rheumatica include age over 50 years and the association with giant cell arteritis. The characteristic feature of the disease is girdle pain, with intense stiffness of at least one hour�s duration. Markers of inflammation, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein are almost always increased at the onset of the disease. Diseases that can mimic the clinical picture of polymyalgia rheumatica are neoplasia, infections, metabolic disorders of the bone and endocrine diseases.


Author(s):  
Raveen Rathnasinghe ◽  
Sonia Jangra ◽  
Anastasija Cupic ◽  
Carles Martínez-Romero ◽  
Lubbertus C.F. Mulder ◽  
...  

AbstractThe current COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19) pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, disproportionally affects the elderly and people with comorbidities like obesity and associated type 2 diabetes mellitus. Small animal models are crucial for the successful development and validation of antiviral vaccines, therapies and to study the role that comorbidities have on the outcome of viral infections. The initially available SARS-CoV-2 isolates require adaptation in order to use the mouse angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (mACE-2) entry receptor and to productively infect the cells of the murine respiratory tract. We have “mouse-adapted” SARS-CoV-2 by serial passaging a clinical virus isolate in the lungs of mice. We then used low doses of this virus in mouse models for advanced age, diabetes and obesity. Similar to SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans, the outcome of infection with mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 resulted in enhanced morbidity in aged and diabetic obese mice. Mutations associated with mouse adaptation occurred in the S, M, N and ORF8 genes. Interestingly, one mutation in the receptor binding domain of the S protein results in the change of an asparagine to tyrosine residue at position 501 (N501Y). This mutation is also present in the newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant viruses reported in the U.K. (20B/501Y.V1, B1.1.7 lineage) that is epidemiologically associated with high human to human transmission. We show that human convalescent and post vaccination sera can neutralize the newly emerging N501Y virus variant with similar efficiency as that of the reference USA-WA1/2020 virus, suggesting that current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will protect against the 20B/501Y.V1 strain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (10) ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
M. F. Gubkina ◽  
I. Yu. Petrakova ◽  
N. V. Yukhimenko ◽  
S. S. Sterlikova ◽  
Yu. Yu. Khokhlova ◽  
...  

The objective: to analyze the course of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in children with active respiratory tuberculosis. Subjects and methods. The article describes results of retrospective analysis of the course of the new coronavirus infection in 25 children (3-12 years old) with active respiratory tuberculosis during the outbreak of COVID-19 in an in-patient TB unit.Results. 24 (96%) persons got infected after the close exposure to the coronavirus infection, and 1 (4%) child didn't get infected. The diagnosis was verified by polymerase chain reaction (detection of RNK of SARS-CoV-2) in 33.3%, by enzyme immunoassay (detection of IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in 1 month after quarantine removal) in 100%. 58.3% of children with respiratory tuberculosis (14 people) infected with coronavirus infection had minimal respiratory symptoms, that did not differ from signs of other respiratory viral infections; clinical manifestations of the disease were completely absent in 41.7% (10) patients. Coronavirus pneumonia was diagnosed in 4 (16.7%) children who suffered from COVID-19, they had no clinical signs of lower respiratory tract disorders and no body temperature increase; 3 patients had no signs of respiratory viral infection; in all cases, the lung damage detected by computed tomography didn't exceed 10%. In 2 months after the removal of quarantine, no IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were detected in 2 out of 10 examined children (20.0%), thus there was a chance for re-infection. No mutual aggravating effect of coronavirus infection and tuberculosis was revealed in their combination over the entire observation period (4 months).


Viruses ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karol Sestak

There is an important role non-human primates (NHP) play in biomedical research. Phylogenetic proximity of any of the NHP species to Homo sapiens assures that much better translatability of research outcomes from model studies involving human diseases can be achieved than from those generated with other pre-clinical systems. Our group and others used during past two decades NHPs in research directed towards viral and autoimmune disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. This review summarizes progress made in the area of enteric viral infections including its applicability to human disease.


Author(s):  
Karol Sestak

There is an important role non-human primates (NHP) play in biomedical research. Phylogenetic proximity of any of the NHP species to Homo sapiens assures that much better translatability of research outcomes from model studies involving human diseases can be achieved than from those generated with other pre-clinical systems. Our group and others used during past two decades NHPs in research directed towards viral and autoimmune disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. This review summarizes progress made in the area of enteric viral infections and its applicability to human disease.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aml Ghanem

COVID-19 is a global crisis that requires a deep understanding of infection pathways to facilitate the development of effective treatments and vaccines. Telomere, which is regarded as a biomarker for other respiratory viral infections, might influence the demographic distribution of COVID-19 infection and fatality rates. Viral infection can induce many cellular remodeling events and stress responses, including telomere specific alterations, just as telomere shortening. In brief, this letter aims to highlight the connection between telomere shortening and susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, in addition to changes in telomeric length according to the variation of age and gender of confirmed cases with COVID-19 infection. To sum up, the correlation is revealed from the available data that connect telomere length and COVID-19 infection, demonstrated in the fact that the elderly patients and males are more susceptible to COVID-19 due to shortening in their telomere length.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (8) ◽  
pp. 2306-2310
Author(s):  
Aureliana Caraiane ◽  
Razvan Leata ◽  
Veronica Toba ◽  
Doina Vesa ◽  
Luana Andreea Macovei ◽  
...  

The progress made in dentistry during the latest decades is due, conceptually, to the new, systemic vision of man, which has also taken place in this field of medicine. In this context, the link between organic and psychic is indestructible. Thus illness is understood as a drama in which the somatic process has a psychic value, and the mental one has a body value. It is known that the morphological and functional integrity of the dental system, health and vigorousness, gives the individual a state of well-being that affects his somatic and psychic health, as any disturbance at this level entails repercussions in psychological and social behavior. Such a disruption is the total edification that seriously alters not only the dental system but the whole organism, putting various biological and psychosocial problems to the practitioner. The total expression represents not only a physical disability but also a psychological one. A special importance in studying psychological changes at total edentulous presents the psychological aspects of senile involution. This is not only a theoretical but also a practical importance due to the increase in the number of elderly people. Through the researches of the present paper we intend to present the reality of the psychological manifestations in the total edentation, which is objectified on different methods of psychodiagnosis in the first part, in order for the second part to be addressed to problems of prosthetic psychotherapy.The study comprises a group of 43 patients, of whom 24 were men and 19 women with total uni or bimaxilar edentation. Total edentation can be and is responsible for somatopsychic alterations, along with other pathogens, general, local, social, which sometimes can take a dramatic form, converting, where the area is also favorable, a pure somatic disease, for those who are not in psychopathy or even psychosis, although these latter cases are extremely rare and especially in youngsters, which would disrupt not only the person�s behavior as an individual, but also their status, function and social integrity. The treatment of dental and psychological complex is mandatory for any patient, but especially for the elderly, where recovery is more difficult, with disease-specific disorders adding to those of senescence.


2014 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
María José Iglesias Sánchez ◽  
Ana María Pérez Pico ◽  
Félix Marcos Tejedor ◽  
María Jesús Iglesias Sánchez ◽  
Raquel Mayordomo Acevedo

Background Dermatomycoses are a group of pathologic abnormalities frequently seen in clinical practice, and their prevalence has increased in recent decades. Diagnostic confirmation of mycotic infection in nails is essential because there are several pathologic conditions with similar clinical manifestations. The classical method for confirming the presence of fungus in nail is microbiological culture and the identification of morphological structures by microscopy. Methods We devised a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that amplifies specific DNA sequences of dermatophyte fungus that is notably faster than the 3 to 4 weeks that the traditional procedure takes. We compared this new technique and the conventional plate culture method in 225 nail samples. The results were subjected to statistical analysis. Results We found concordance in 78.2% of the samples analyzed by the two methods and increased sensitivity when simultaneously using the two methods to analyze clinical samples. Now we can confirm the presence of dermatophyte fungus in most of the positive samples in just 24 hours, and we have to wait for the result of culture only in negative PCR cases. Conclusions Although this PCR cannot, at present, substitute for the traditional culture method in the detection of dermatophyte infection of the nails, it can be used as a complementary technique because its main advantage lies in the significant reduction of time used for diagnosis, in addition to higher sensitivity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Cross ◽  
Zachary A. Bornholdt ◽  
Abhishek N. Prasad ◽  
Viktoriya Borisevich ◽  
Krystle N. Agans ◽  
...  

AbstractMonoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and remdesivir, a small-molecule antiviral, are promising monotherapies for many viruses, including members of the genera Marburgvirus and Ebolavirus (family Filoviridae), and more recently, SARS-CoV-2. One of the major challenges of acute viral infections is the treatment of advanced disease. Thus, extending the window of therapeutic intervention is critical. Here, we explore the benefit of combination therapy with a mAb and remdesivir in a non-human primate model of Marburg virus (MARV) disease. While rhesus monkeys are protected against lethal infection when treatment with either a human mAb (MR186-YTE; 100%), or remdesivir (80%), is initiated 5 days post-inoculation (dpi) with MARV, no animals survive when either treatment is initiated alone beginning 6 dpi. However, by combining MR186-YTE with remdesivir beginning 6 dpi, significant protection (80%) is achieved, thereby extending the therapeutic window. These results suggest value in exploring combination therapy in patients presenting with advanced filovirus disease.


Open Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 396-402
Author(s):  
Qisi Zhang ◽  
Yingli Qiao ◽  
Dongmei Yan ◽  
Yuhui Deng ◽  
Mengyang Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractMultiple myeloma (MM) is an immunoglobulin-producing tumor of plasma cells, which occurs commonly in the elderly. The incidence of myocardial amyloidosis with MM is extremely low and early clinical manifestations are nonspecific. The diversity of clinical manifestations and first episode symptoms often cause misdiagnosis in young patients with myocardial amyloidosis following MM. In this study, we analyzed the clinical data of a young woman with MM and impaired cardiac function combined with echocardiography, electrocardiography (ECG), laboratory data, cell Congo Red staining, and other manifestations to diagnose amyloidosis. Considering the rapid progression, short survival, and poor prognosis in most patients, a clear, definitive, and timely diagnosis is essential for the treatment of patients with MM complicated with myocardial amyloidosis.


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