The influenza A virus, which is responsible for seasonal flu outbreaks, is also the only influenza virus that has previously caused flu pandemics. This makes influenza A an important research topic, as the seasonal flu causes ...
Biochemistry
Jun 6, 2022
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18
FMI researchers have identified a synthetic protein that dampens the activity of a cellular pathway involved in viral infection. The findings could help to develop drugs that combat viruses such as influenza A and Zika.
Cell & Microbiology
May 11, 2022
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117
Human cells use a protein named TBC1D5 to route influenza A viruses inside host cells for destruction, preventing the virus from spreading replicated copies of itself to other cells, according to a study published in Nature ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 29, 2021
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83
Right now, there's just one virus on everyone's minds: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But humanity is plagued by many respiratory viruses, such as influenza A (IAV) and respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV), which ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 10, 2021
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33
Many viruses, including HIV and influenza A, mutate so quickly that identifying effective vaccines or treatments is like trying to hit a moving target. A better understanding of viral propagation and evolution in single cells ...
Biochemistry
Aug 20, 2020
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175
Researchers have provided new insight on how two proteins help influenza A virus particles fight their way to human cells.
Cell & Microbiology
May 14, 2019
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84
Influenza A viruses are highly adaptable, managing to infect and replicate rapidly and to spread efficiently from person to person. An outbreak has the potential to kill millions of people globally, and many scientists are ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 13, 2018
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68
An influenza infection in birds gives a good protection against other subtypes of the virus, like a natural vaccination, according to a new study.
Ecology
Jun 30, 2017
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14
The H5 avian influenza A virus that devastated North American poultry farms in 2014-15 was initially spread by migratory waterfowl, but evidence suggests such highly pathogenic flu viruses do not persist in wild birds. St. ...
Ecology
Jul 25, 2016
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333
Whitehead Institute scientists have determined how to use alpaca-derived, single-domain antibody fragments (also called VHHs or nanobodies) to perturb cellular processes in mammalian cells, including the infection of human ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 20, 2016
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6
Influenzavirus A Influenzavirus B Influenzavirus C Isavirus Thogotovirus
Influenzavirus A is a genus of the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses. Influenzavirus A includes only one species: Influenza A virus which causes influenza in birds and some mammals. Strains of all subtypes of influenza A virus have been isolated from wild birds, although disease is uncommon. Some isolates of influenza A virus cause severe disease both in domestic poultry and, rarely, in humans. Occasionally viruses are transmitted from wild aquatic birds to domestic poultry and this may cause an outbreak or give rise to human influenza pandemics.
Influenza A viruses are negative sense, single-stranded, segmented RNA viruses. There are several subtypes, labeled according to an H number (for the type of hemagglutinin) and an N number (for the type of neuraminidase). There are 16 different H antigens (H1 to H16) and nine different N antigens (N1 to N9). The newest H type (H16) was isolated from black-headed gulls caught in Sweden and the Netherlands in 1999 and reported in the literature in 2005.
Each virus subtype has mutated into a variety of strains with differing pathogenic profiles; some pathogenic to one species but not others, some pathogenic to multiple species.
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