Department of Virology, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
J Infect Dis. 2010 Apr 1;201(7):993-9. doi: 10.1086/651132.
The newly emerged influenza A(H1N1) virus (new H1N1 virus) is causing the first influenza pandemic of this century. Three influenza pandemics of the previous century caused variable mortality, which largely depended on the development of severe pneumonia. However, the ability of the new H1N1 virus to cause pneumonia is poorly understood.
The new H1N1 virus was inoculated intratracheally into ferrets. Its ability to cause pneumonia was compared with that of seasonal influenza H1N1 virus and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus by using clinical, virological, and pathological analyses.
Our results showed that the new H1N1 virus causes pneumonia in ferrets intermediate in severity between that caused by seasonal H1N1 virus and by HPAI H5N1 virus. The new H1N1 virus replicated well throughout the lower respiratory tract and more extensively than did both seasonal H1N1 virus (which replicated mainly in the bronchi) and HPAI H5N1 virus (which replicated mainly in the alveoli). High loads of new H1N1 virus in lung tissue were associated with diffuse alveolar damage and mortality.
The new H1N1 virus may be intrinsically more pathogenic for humans than is seasonal H1N1 virus.
新出现的甲型 H1N1 流感病毒（新 H1N1 病毒）正在引发本世纪的首次流感大流行。上世纪的三次流感大流行导致了不同程度的死亡率，这在很大程度上取决于严重肺炎的发展。然而，新 H1N1 病毒引起肺炎的能力还不太清楚。
通过临床、病毒学和病理学分析，将新 H1N1 病毒经气管内接种到雪貂体内，比较其引起肺炎的能力与季节性 H1N1 病毒和高致病性禽流感（HPAI）H5N1 病毒的能力。
我们的结果表明，新 H1N1 病毒在雪貂中引起的肺炎介于季节性 H1N1 病毒和 HPAI H5N1 病毒引起的肺炎之间。新 H1N1 病毒在整个下呼吸道的复制情况良好，比季节性 H1N1 病毒（主要在支气管中复制）和 HPAI H5N1 病毒（主要在肺泡中复制）更为广泛。新 H1N1 病毒在肺部组织中的高载量与弥漫性肺泡损伤和死亡率有关。
新 H1N1 病毒对人类的致病性可能比季节性 H1N1 病毒固有地更强。
