Influenza

Science targets an evasive virus.

A better understanding of the immune response to influenza is driving development of vaccines that protect against many strains of the virus.

The rise of environmental resistance to the drugs used to combat flu is a potential disaster — but one that we can avert, argues Josef Järhult.

Understanding how the influenza virus replicates inside the body is helping researchers develop a wider range of antiviral drugs.

Adoption of molecular tests for influenza has been slow — partly because of their high cost.

By monitoring social media, scientists can monitor outbreaks as they happen.

Can the latest techniques speed up the dangerously slow production of flu vaccines?

Farms help to spread influenza but they might be an early warning system for the next human pandemic.

Influenza is an infectious respiratory disease that, in humans, is caused by influenza A and influenza B viruses. This PrimeView highlights some key preventive measures to stop its spread.

Study of influenza virus transmission in humans provides evidence that hemagglutinin stalk-specific antibodies correlate with protection from infection.

IFITM3 encodes an antiviral protein that blocks entry of influenza A virus into cells. Paul Thomas and colleagues report that SNP rs34481144 in the 5′ UTR of IFITM3 is an expression quantitative trait locus for this gene and that the risk allele is associated with lower IFITM3 expression and severe influenza disease.

A century after the world’s worst flu epidemic, rapid spread of misinformation is undermining trust in vaccines crucial to public health, warns Heidi Larson.

The DR isotype of the human leukocyte antigen of the MHC class II—or its homologues in bats, pigs, mice and chickens—is an essential cell entry determinant for bat influenza A viruses.

A comparative transcriptional analysis identifies human HLA-DR as a factor that mediates entry of bat influenza A-like H17-pseudotyped viral particles into mammalian cells.

Antibodies have been engineered to recognize diverse strains of influenza, including both the A and B types of virus that cause human epidemics. Are we moving closer to achieving ‘universal’ protection against all flu strains?

Influenza is an infectious respiratory disease that, in humans, is caused by influenza A and influenza B viruses. This Primer discusses the biological features of influenza viruses, their effects on human and animal health and the mitigation strategies to reduce the burden of this disease.

Seasonal influenza viruses continue to cause epidemics each year. In this Review, Petrova and Russell discuss recent advances in understanding the molecular determinants of influenza virus immune escape, sources of evolutionary selection pressure, population dynamics of influenza viruses and prospects for better influenza virus control.

Antigenic variation of influenza A viruses necessitates the annual reformulation of vaccines. Kanekiyo et al. develop a mosaic nanoparticle vaccine against influenza virus that is able to elicit neutralizing antibodies that span nearly 100 years of variation of influenza A virus.