RESUMO
Avian influenza virus (H5N1) emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, causing severe human disease. In recent years, several outbreaks have been reported in different parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, raising concerns of dissemination of a new and highly lethal influenza pandemic. Although H5N1 has not been capable of sustaining human-to-human transmission, the ability of the virus to undergo variation due to mutations and reassortment, clearly poses the possibility of viral adaptation to the human species. For this reason the World Health Organization has established that we are now in a phase of pandemic alert. Preparing for an influenza pandemic involves a great deal of awareness necessary to stop initial outbreaks, through the use of case recognition, sensitive and rapid diagnostic methods, appropriate therapeutic and preventive measures to reduce spread. Influenza pandemic preparedness involves coordinated pharmacologic and vaccinal strategies, as well as containment measures such as travel restrictions and quarantine approaches.
Assuntos
Surtos de Doenças , Virus da Influenza A Subtipo H5N1 , Influenza Humana/epidemiologia , Animais , Aves , Surtos de Doenças/prevenção & controle , Saúde Global , Humanos , Virus da Influenza A Subtipo H5N1/genética , Virus da Influenza A Subtipo H5N1/patogenicidade , Influenza Humana/prevenção & controle , Influenza Humana/transmissão , Influenza Humana/virologiaRESUMO
Avian influenza virus (H5N1) emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, causing severe human disease. In recent years, several outbreaks have been reported in different parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, raising concerns of dissemination of a new and highly lethal influenza pandemic. Although H5N1 has not been capable of sustaining human-to-human transmission, the ability of the virus to undergo variation due to mutations and reassortment, clearly poses the possibility of viral adaptation to the human species. For this reason the World Health Organization has established that we are now in a phase of pandemic alert. Preparing for an influenza pandemic involves a great deal of awareness necessary to stop initial outbreaks, through the use of case recognition, sensitive and rapid diagnostic methods, appropriate therapeutic and preventive measures to reduce spread. Influenza pandemic preparedness involves coordinated pharmacologic and vaccinal strategies, as well as containment measures such as travel restrictions and quarantine approaches.
Assuntos
Animais , Humanos , Surtos de Doenças , Influenza Humana/epidemiologia , Aves , Surtos de Doenças/prevenção & controle , Saúde Global , /genética , /patogenicidade , Influenza Humana/prevenção & controle , Influenza Humana/transmissão , Influenza Humana/virologiaRESUMO
A cohort of children attending a day care center in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil) was studied prospectively to determine the incidence of viral respiratory infectious episodes and to identify the viruses associated with them. Two hundred seventy-one nasopharyngeal samples were collected over a 1-year period for examination, using indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies against adenovirus, influenza A and B, parainfluenzae 1-3, and respiratory syncytial virus, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction for picornavirus. Examination yielded positive results in 116 samples (42.8%). Rhinovirus was identified alone in 56 samples (48.3%) and was observed along with other viruses in 11 additional samples. Incidence density of viral respiratory infectious episodes was 7.66 episodes/1,000 child-days.