Factors Associated with Attitudes towards Seasonal Influenza Vaccination in Poland: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Survey in 2020

We aimed to assess attitudes towards the influenza vaccine and factors associated with a willingness to vaccinate against seasonal influenza in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic (flu season 2020/2021). This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was carried out between 5 and 15 November 2020 on a representative nationwide sample of 1052 individuals aged 18+ in Poland. Of the respondents, 5.5% (95% CI: 4.3–7.0%) declared that they had already got vaccinated against influenza and 13.4% (95% CI: 11.4–15.6%) declared a willingness to vaccinate against influenza during the 2020/2021 season. Out of nine different factors analyzed in this study, only three were significantly associated with attitudes towards influenza vaccination. Participants aged 75 years and over (OR = 5.82; 95% CI: 2.63–12.85), as well as participants aged 60–74 years (OR = 2.43; 95% CI: 1.30–4.54), compared to those aged 19–29, had significantly higher odds of having a positive attitude towards seasonal influenza vaccination. Respondents who define themselves as completely religious unbelievers (OR = 4.34; 95% CI: 1.79–10.55), as well as Internet users (OR = 2.12; 95% CI: 1.30–3.47), had higher odds of having a positive attitude towards influenza vaccination. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the percentage of adults in Poland who already got vaccinated or declared a willingness to vaccinate against influenza remains low. This also applies to high-risk groups.

Interleukin 16 Enhances the Host Susceptibility to Influenza A Virus Infection

Influenza A virus (IAV) is a major respiratory pathogen that causes seasonal and pandemic flu, being a threat to global health. Various viral and cellular factors have been characterized to support or limit IAV infection. Interleukin 16 (IL16) has been known as one of the blood signature biomarkers discriminating systemic inflammation due to viral infection vs. other etiologies. Here, we report that the level of IL16 was elevated in the serum samples, lung homogenates, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of IAV-infected mice. IL16 overexpression facilitated IAV replication. Conversely, loss of IL16 reduced the host susceptibility to IAV infection in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, IL16 deficiency blocked IAV-induced body weight loss and attenuated lung injury in the infected mice. Molecular mechanism analyses further revealed that IL16 could directly inhibit IFN-β transcription and suppress the expression of IFN-β and IFN-stimulated gene. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that IL16 is a supporting factor for IAV infection.

The Hidden Costs of COVID-19 and School Closure on Children

An initial public health measure enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was the closure of schools.[1] This action was motivated by previous observations regarding school closure and prevention of pandemic flu transmission.[2,3] In response to periodic school closure, many schools in Ontario have adopted a hybrid model of schooling with both in-person and remote learning. However, due to the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, considerable concern has been raised regarding in-person learning.[4,5] This is an important discussion to have as additional variants and waves are likely to arise, and school closure poses a substantial burden to the well-being of children —especially those from marginalized populations.

Lessons from History: Methodological Problems arising from Comparing the Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic 2009-10 to Seasonal Influenza 2010-2019 at the United States

Pandemics of human influenza are when influenza viruses that have little or no immunity become capable of transmitting from one person to another. A novel H1N1 influenza virus was discovered in children in the southwest United States in April 2009. Retroactively, it was shown that these cases were the result of an ongoing epidemic in Mexico. A number of national vaccination programs were established in response to the pandemic. Surprisingly early clinical trials data from humans have shown that one dose of nonadjuvanted pandemic flu A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent, inactivated vaccine (pMIV), has resulted in a significant seroprotective response. This is despite previous studies showing no cross-reactivity between pandemic and seasonal H1N1 viruses.

The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 in Russia. Questions a hundred years later

The course of the Spanish flu on the territory of the former Russian Empire is not well studied. This is due to the state of the medical statistics during the times of the Civil War. The medical data was collected more diligently by the Soviet Russia rather than by the officials of the White Army.This article discusses the timeline, symptoms, morbidity and mortality of the Spanish flu. The materials used in this article were obtained from the regional hospital archives, printed publications, and personal memoirs.The virus of the Spanish flu has initially entered the territory of Russia at the end of August of 1918 through the demarcation line with the German army at the temporary western border defined by the Treaty of Brest. In the beginning of September the virus was carried out by the Allies army through the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. In the European part of Russia, the outbreak started around September–November of 1918. So far, there is not enough data regarding pandemic flu in Siberia and Far East region of Russia. The unknown illness that undermined the combat capability of the 11th Red Army at the end of the fall of 1918 was likely of viral etiology. There was no evidence found that pandemic flu in Russia had high mortality.The possible correlation between atypical malignant nature of typhus and relapsing fever, the epidemics of which began in the fall of 1918, and the previous exposure of the population to the influenza virus has been hypothesized. Another hypothesis under discussion is about the possible correlation between outbreaks of the malaria and measles and subsequent susceptibility to the pandemic Spanish flu virus.

Expert-Led Securitization: The Case of the 2009 Pandemic in Denmark and Sweden

This article goes beyond the study of speech acts to investigate the process of securitization during a health crisis. The article introduces the concept of ‘expert-led securitization’ to account for situations when experts dominate the administrative process that translates a securitizing speech act into extraordinary public policy. Expert-led securitization was particularly salient during the 2009 pandemic flu in Denmark and Sweden. Autonomous public health expert agencies led the national securitization processes, and these never included intense political battles or extensive public debates. In turn, the respective processes resulted in different policies: Sweden’s main response to the pandemic was an extraordinary push to vaccinate its whole population, while Denmark’s was a one-off offer of vaccination to about twenty percent of its people. Hence, the 2009 pandemic example illustrates the added value of investigating the administrative dynamics of securitization when seeking to understand differences in extraordinary policies.

High rate prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection: Comparative epidemiology with other pandemic flu and impact on COVID 19 control measures

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus responsible for CODIV 19 pandemic, an international public health emergency. Conventional routes of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 are respiratory droplets and direct surface based contact, similar to SARS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and highly pathogenic influenza. Some clinical features of infectivity and viral susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 are similar to SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, suggesting a difference in the viral tropism despite the phylogenetic homogeneity. The incubation period of SARS-CoV-2 is in line with other coronaviruses, but with lower case fatality rate, although the presence of comorbidities can make it highly lethal. The major concern with SARS-CoV-2 is its ability to spread silently by the asymptomatic and presymptomatic carriers. About 70-80% positive cases of COVID 19 is coming out to be asymptomatic, presymptomatic, or very mild symptomatic which dangerously higher compared to SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, H1N1, and seasonal influenza. Asymptomatic and presymptomatic carriers based silent spreading of SARS-CoV-2 has become a major concern due to short serial interval, and soaring level of virus shedding from the upper respiratory tract. Asymptomatic transmission is making containment measures difficult to implement, now early detection and isolation of asymptomatic and presymptomatic persons can be an effective strategy to control spread. High transmutability and silent infection rate SARS-CoV-2 will hopefully help in the fast development of community herd immunity, assuming to have 12 to 14 months active spread period compared to 18-24 for previous pandemic flu. Mass screening by rapid antibody tests, especially in congregate living conditions, mandatory use face masks, social-distancing, and strict execution of sanitization practices even after the relaxation of lockdown, can effectively help to control the COVID 19 infection rate.

Viral Sovereignty or Sequence Etiquette? Asian Science, Open Data, and Knowledge Control in Global Virus Surveillance

On several occasions, the People’s Republic of China refused to share influenza viruses isolated on their territory with the World Health Organization pandemic flu surveillance system. Scholars in STS and allied disciplines have described these disputes as examples of growing conflict between global health norms of free exchange and Asian state claims of viral sovereignty. However, the discussion has largely overlooked the fact that laboratories in China freely shared genetic sequence data from isolated viruses, even when they refused to ship physical samples, a fact that complicates the opposition of open data and viral sovereignty with the different material forms of the physical sample and the nucleotide sequence. This article provides a comprehensive comparison of the heterogeneous circulations of influenza virus samples and virus gene sequences in global health influenza surveillance and argues this difference is rooted in the different knowledge-control regimes designed for exchanging samples and sequences. Engaging with debates on the position of Asian science within global scientific circulations, the article suggests that Asian scientists confront a multiplicity of global scientific infrastructures and do not necessarily rely on the authority of nation-state sovereignty to reshape global exchanges.