Identification of epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting the VP1 pocket of human rhinovirus.

Screening a library of 1,200 preselected kinase inhibitors for anti-human rhinovirus 2 (HRV-2) activity in HeLa cells identified a class of epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI) as effective virus blockers. These were based on the 4-anilinoquinazoline-7-oxypiperidine scaffold, with the most potent representative AZ5385 inhibiting the virus with EC of 0.35 µM.

Risk factors for norovirus infection in healthcare workers during nosocomial outbreaks: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Norovirus outbreaks cause severe medico-socio-economic problems affecting healthcare workers and patients. The aim of the study was to investigate prevalence of norovirus infection and risk factors for infection in healthcare workers during nosocomial outbreaks.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of norovirus infections in healthcare workers was performed in seven outbreak wards in a large university hospital.

[Quadrivalent influenza vaccine: What is changed and what are the benefits?].

Currently, circulating viruses responsible for annual seasonal influenza epidemics belong to two influenza A subtypes, A(H1N1) and A(H3N2), and to two antigenically distinct type B lineages, B/Yamagata and B/Victoria lineages. Like diseases due to influenza A virus, influenza B virus diseases may have severe consequences and should be prevented. Until now, in France, the vaccines used to prevent seasonal influenza were trivalent, systematically targeting viruses belonging to both A subtypes and to one or other of the B lineages.

Seroprevalence of Zika virus and Rubella virus IgG among blood donors in Rwanda and in Sweden.

Seroprevalence studies provide information on the susceptibility to infection of certain populations, including women of childbearing age. Such data from Central Africa are scarce regarding two viruses that cause congenital infections: Zika virus (ZIKV), an emerging mosquito-borne infection, and Rubella virus (RuV), a vaccine-preventable infection. We report on the seroprevalence of both ZIKV and RuV from Rwanda, a country without any known cases of ZIKV, but bordering Uganda where this virus was isolated in 1947.

Mechanisms downstream of reverse transcription reduce serum levels of HBV DNA but not of HBsAg in chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in serum of chronically infected patients declines by 3-4 log10 units at loss of HBe antigen (HBeAg) from serum. The mechanisms behind this decline, and the much smaller decline of surface antigen (HBsAg) levels, are still not well known. The aim of this study was to get a better understanding of this process by analysing both serum and intrahepatic markers of HBV replication.

Targeting membrane-bound viral RNA synthesis reveals potent inhibition of diverse coronaviruses including the middle East respiratory syndrome virus.

Coronaviruses raise serious concerns as emerging zoonotic viruses without specific antiviral drugs available. Here we screened a collection of 16671 diverse compounds for anti-human coronavirus 229E activity and identified an inhibitor, designated K22, that specifically targets membrane-bound coronaviral RNA synthesis. K22 exerts most potent antiviral activity after virus entry during an early step of the viral life cycle.

Norovirus GII.4 detection in environmental samples from patient rooms during nosocomial outbreaks.

Norovirus (NoV) is an important cause of nosocomial gastroenteric outbreaks. This 5-month study was designed to characterize NoV contamination and airborne dispersal in patient rooms during hospital outbreaks. Air vents, overbed tables, washbasins, dust, and virus traps designed to collect charged particles from the air were swabbed to investigate the possibility of NoV contamination in patient rooms during outbreaks in seven wards and in an outbreak-free ward.

HBsAg quantification for identification of liver disease in chronic hepatitis B virus carriers.

Background & Aims: Quantification of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) has been proposed as a useful diagnostic marker for clinical staging (identification of inactive carrier state) and prognosis of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between HBsAg levels in serum and histological liver damage in patients with chronic infection.

Methods: HBsAg levels in serum (by Abbott Architect) were related to HBV DNA, ALT and histological score (n=160) and covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) (n=84).

The evolving history of influenza viruses and influenza vaccines.

The isolation of influenza virus 80 years ago in 1933 very quickly led to the development of the first generation of live-attenuated vaccines. The first inactivated influenza vaccine was monovalent (influenza A). In 1942, a bivalent vaccine was produced after the discovery of influenza B.

Comparison between terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and quantitative culture for analysis of infants' gut microbiota.

The infantile intestinal microbiota is a major stimulus for immune maturation. Both culture and DNA-based methods can be used for microbiota characterization, but few studies have systematically compared their performance for analysis of the gut microbiota. Here, we examined fecal samples obtained on six occasions between one week and 12 months of age from six vaginally delivered infants.

Hepatitis B viral DNA decline at loss of HBeAg is mainly explained by reduced cccDNA load--down-regulated transcription of PgRNA has limited impact.

Background: Quantification of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA and surface antigen (HBsAg) serum levels have become increasingly important for the assessment of clinical stage and response to treatment for chronic hepatitis B. Effective immune clearance results in reduction of viremia by 4-5 log units and HBsAg levels by 2 log, but these processes are not well understood. Thus, it is uncertain to what extent mechanisms that inhibit transcription of the pregenomic RNA (pgRNA), an RNA intermediate, contribute to suppression of viremia.

Genotype impact on long-term virological outcome of chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

Background: The importance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype on the clinical course of chronic HBV infection is not yet clarified.

Objectives: To investigate genotype impact on long-term virological outcome of chronic HBV infection.

Study Design: HBsAg, HBeAg, ALT and HBV DNA levels were determined after a median of 9.

Marked genomic diversity of norovirus genogroup I strains in a waterborne outbreak.

Marked norovirus (NoV) diversity was detected in patient samples from a large community outbreak of gastroenteritis with waterborne epidemiology affecting approximately 2,400 people. NoV was detected in 33 of 50 patient samples examined by group-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR. NoV genotype I (GI) strains predominated in 31 patients, with mixed GI infections occurring in 5 of these patients.

Genotype X/C recombinant (putative genotype I) of hepatitis B virus is rare in Hanoi, Vietnam--genotypes B4 and C1 predominate.

There are eight known genotypes of hepatitis B virus, A-H, and several subgenotypes, with rather well-defined geographic distributions. HBV genotypes were evaluated in 153 serum samples from Hanoi, Vietnam. Of the 87 samples that could be genotyped, genotype B was found in 67 (77%) and genotype C in 19 (22%).

Coexpression of biological key modulators in primary colorectal carcinomas and related metastatic sites: implications for treatment with cetuximab.

Background: Recent studies suggested substantial differences between primary tumors and metastases for EGFR expression in colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of the study was to correlate the expression of a panel of molecular markers between primary CRC samples and metastases.

Methods: Expressions of EGFR, pEGFR, VEGF, pVEGF, PTEN, pAKT and p21 were analyzed in 28 primary tumors and 32 liver metastases by immunohistochemistry performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections from 46 CRC patients.

Molecular analysis of an oyster-related norovirus outbreak.

Background: Contaminated raw oysters were implicated in a severe outbreak of norovirus (NoV) gastroenteritis affecting 30 restaurant guests.

Objectives: To define the outbreak source by using molecular methods to characterize NoV strains detected in patient and oyster samples.

Study Design: Molecular epidemiological studies based on nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of patient and oyster NoV strains, and comparison to background dataset.

[Natural history of influenza].

Influenza is known as a human disease, but many influenza viruses can be found in several other animal species. In some it induces a disease similar to man's infection with a major respiratory tropism. In others the disease is quite different, like the systemic infection of fowl plague.

Colonization dynamics of ampicillin-resistant Escherichia coli in the infantile colonic microbiota.

Objectives: To compare the colonization dynamics of ampicillin-resistant and ampicillin-susceptible Escherichia coli strains in the infantile intestinal microbiota.

Methods: We followed 128 infants over the first year of life with regular quantitative faecal cultures and recordings of antibiotic treatment. E.

Tracing of norovirus outbreak strains in mussels collected near sewage effluents.

Noroviruses from mussels collected near sewage effluents were compared with local patient outbreak strains. Sequence analyses of RNA polymerase-capsid-poly(A)-3' (3.1-kilobase) regions confirmed the 99.

Mutation analysis of lamivudine resistant hepatitis B virus strains by TaqMan PCR.

Hepatitis B virus infected patients on long-term lamivudine treatment are exposed to a 15-32% risk compounded annually of developing resistance mutations. Such resistance results in a progression of the liver damage caused by chronic hepatitis B, and may also impair the effect of other antivirals through cross-resistance. At present lamivudine is used frequently as monotherapy because of its relatively low price and negligible side effects.

Lamivudine resistance of hepatitis B virus masked by coemergence of mutations in probe region of the COBAS AMPLICOR assay.

The COBAS AMPLICOR hepatitis B virus assay targets a conserved region of the genome and is widely used to monitor treatment of hepatitis B in order to identify emerging resistance. However, the assay failed to recognize increasing viremia levels when YMDD mutations were paralleled by mutations in the segment targeted by the COBAS AMPLICOR probe.

Detection of hepatitis A virus genotype IB variants in clams from Maputo Bay, Mozambique.

Clams provide an important source of food and income for the population of Maputo, Mozambique, where conditions of poor water supply and inadequate sanitation favor endemic infection with hepatitis A virus (HAV). To determine the role of bivalves in an endemic area, clams gathered from Maputo Bay were bought from market and examined for HAV. Four batches, total 150 clams, were sampled over the year.

Genotyping of hepatitis C virus by Taqman real-time PCR.

Background: Genotype of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is of major importance for the outcome of treatment. The response rate is considerably lower for genotype 1, the predominant genotype in western countries.

Objectives: To develop and evaluate a new, simple method for genotyping of HCV based on real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Taqman probes targeting the 5' non-coding region.