Electronic cigarettes: A position statement from the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand.

The TSANZ develops position statements where insufficient data exist to write formal clinical guidelines. In 2018, the TSANZ addressed the question of potential benefits and health impacts of electronic cigarettes (EC). The working party included groups focused on health impacts, smoking cessation, youth issues and priority populations.

Innate immunity to influenza in chronic airways diseases.

Influenza presents a unique human infectious disease that has a substantial impact on the public health, in general, and especially for those with chronic airways diseases. People with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are particularly vulnerable to influenza infection and experience more severe symptoms with the worsening of their pre-existing conditions. Recent advances in reverse genetics and innate immunity has revealed several influenza virulence factors and host factors involved in influenza pathogenesis and the immune responses to infection.

Diversity in the bronchial epithelial cell response to infection with different rhinovirus strains.

Background And Objective: Infection with rhinovirus (RV) is the most common trigger for acute asthma and COPD. The aim of this study was to characterize the variability in the response of primary bronchial epithelial cells to infection with several strains of RV.

Methods: RV strains, RV-43, RV-48 (major group RV), RV-47 (minor) and EV-68 (enterovirus), were cultured from subjects with acute asthma and compared with the laboratory RV strains, RV-16, RV-14 (major) and RV-1B (minor).

Innate immune response to viral infection of the lungs.

Viral respiratory tract infections are the most common infectious illnesses, though they are usually self-limiting and confined to the respiratory tract. The rapid identification of viruses and their effective elimination with minimal local and systemic inflammation is a testament to the efficiency of the innate immune response within the airways and lungs. A failure of this response appears to occur in those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, where viral infection is an important trigger for acute exacerbations.