Pascua Philippe Noriel Q, Choi Young Ki
Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea.
Clin Exp Vaccine Res. 2014 Jul;3(2):140-8. doi: 10.7774/cevr.2014.3.2.140. Epub 2014 Jun 20.
Various direct avian-to-human transmissions of influenza A virus subtypes upon exposure to infected poultry have been previously observed in the past decades. Although some of these strains caused lethal infections, the lack of sustained person-to-person transmission has been the major factor that prevented these viruses from causing new pandemics. In 2013, three (A/H7N9, A/H6N1, and A/H10N8) novel avian influenza viruses (AIVs) yet again breached the animal-human host species barrier in Asia. Notably, roughly 20% of the A/H7N9-infected patients succumbed to the zoonotic infection whereas two of three A/H10N8 human infections were also lethal. Thus, these events revived the concerns of potential pandemic threats by AIVs in the horizon. This article reviews the various human incursions with AIV variants and provides insight on how continued circulation of these viruses poses perpetual challenge to global public health. As the world anticipates for the next human pandemic, constant vigilance for newly emerging viruses in nature is highly encouraged. With the various numbers of AIVs demonstrating their capacity to breach the animal-human host interface and apparent limitations of current antivirals, there is a need to broaden the selection of pre-pandemic vaccine candidate viruses and development of novel alternative therapeutic strategies.
在过去几十年中，先前已观察到甲型流感病毒亚型在接触受感染家禽后发生了各种直接的禽传人传播。尽管其中一些毒株引起了致命感染，但缺乏持续的人际传播一直是阻止这些病毒引发新的大流行的主要因素。2013年，三种新型禽流感病毒（A/H7N9、A/H6N1和A/H10N8）再次突破了亚洲动物与人宿主物种之间的屏障。值得注意的是，约20%的A/H7N9感染患者死于这种人畜共患感染，而三例A/H10N8人类感染中有两例也是致命的。因此，这些事件再次引发了人们对禽流感病毒在未来构成潜在大流行威胁的担忧。本文回顾了禽流感病毒变异株对人类的各种侵袭，并深入探讨了这些病毒的持续传播如何对全球公共卫生构成持续挑战。随着世界期待下一次人类大流行，强烈鼓励对自然界中新兴病毒保持持续警惕。鉴于大量禽流感病毒显示出突破动物与人宿主界面的能力以及当前抗病毒药物明显的局限性，有必要扩大大流行前候选疫苗病毒的选择范围，并开发新的替代治疗策略。
