Publications by authors named "Winke Van der Gucht"
The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) represents the leading cause of viral lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in children worldwide and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates. The clinical picture of an RSV infection differs substantially between patients, and the role of viral co-infections is poorly investigated. During two consecutive winter seasons from October 2018 until February 2020, we prospectively included children up to 2 years old presenting with an acute LRTI, both ambulatory and hospitalized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRespiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a very important viral pathogen in children, immunocompromised and cardiopulmonary diseased patients and the elderly. Most of the published research with RSV was performed on RSV Long and RSV A2, isolated in 1956 and 1961, yet recent RSV isolates differ from these prototype strains. Additionally, these viruses have been serially passaged in cell culture, which may result in adaptations that affect virus-host interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Differences have been observed in the susceptibility of macrophage cell lines to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. In this study, we evaluated whether the type of macrophage cell line and RSV strain used have an influence on the infectivity and production of progeny virus.
Methods: Both human and murine macrophage-like cell lines were infected with different RSV strains, both lab strains as well as clinical isolates.
Article Synopsis
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) makes a lot of babies sick and there's no vaccine to prevent it yet.
- Scientists are studying two important proteins, G and F, in RSV that help the virus multiply and see how changes in these proteins might help create a vaccine.
- They found out that certain small changes in the F protein can lead to better immune responses and possibly improve vaccine effectiveness in the future.
Prevention of severe lower respiratory tract infections in infants caused by the human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) remains a major public health priority. Currently, the major focus of vaccine development relies on the RSV fusion (F) protein since it is the main target protein for neutralizing antibodies induced by natural infection. The protein conserves 5 N-glycosylation sites, two of which are located in the F2 subunit (N27 and N70), one in the F1 subunit (N500) and two in the p27 peptide (N116 and N126).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiagnostic accuracy of digital RNA quantification versus real-time PCR for the detection of respiratory syncytial virus in nasopharyngeal aspirates from children with acute respiratory infection.
J Clin Virol
September 2018
Article Synopsis
- The nCounter (NanoString Technologies) is a multiplex digital method that can simultaneously identify and quantify multiple respiratory viruses, addressing challenges in traditional RT-PCR diagnostics.
- A study in Brazil assessed nCounter’s effectiveness in detecting RSV-A and RSV-B in young children with respiratory infections, comparing it to the gold standard RT-PCR.
- Results showed nCounter had high sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy for detecting RSV, suggesting it's a reliable tool for large-scale epidemiological research.
Background: Host proteases have been shown to play important roles in many viral activities such as entry, uncoating, viral protein production and disease induction. Therefore, these cellular proteases are putative targets for the development of antivirals that inhibit their activity. Host proteases have been described to play essential roles in Ebola, HCV, HIV and influenza, such that specific protease inhibitors are able to reduce infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRespiratory syncytial virus a and b display different temporal patterns in a 4-year prospective cross-sectional study among children with acute respiratory infection in a tropical city.
Medicine (Baltimore)
October 2016
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most common etiological agents of childhood respiratory infections globally. Information on seasonality of different antigenic groups is scarce. We aimed to describe the frequency, seasonality, and age of children infected by RSV antigenic groups A (RSVA) and B (RSVB) among children with ARI in a 4-year period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acute respiratory tract infections (ARI) present a significant morbidity and pose a global health burden. Patients are frequently treated with antibiotics although ARI are most commonly caused by virus, strengthening the need for improved diagnostic methods.
Objectives: Detect viral and bacterial RNA in nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) from children aged 6-23 months with ARI using nCounter.