In 2014, the United States (US) experienced a nationwide outbreak of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) infection with 1,152 cases reported mainly in hospitalised children with severe asthma or bronchiolitis. ...Following the US alert, 11 laboratories of the French enterovirus (EV) surveillance network participated in an EV-D68 survey. A total of 6,229 respiratory samples, collected from 1 July to 31 December 2014, were screened for EV-D68 resulting in 212 EV-D68-positive samples. These 212 samples corresponded to 200 EV-D68 cases. The overall EV-D68 positivity rates among respiratory samples were of 5% (184/3,645) and 1.1% (28/2,584) in hospitalised children and adults respectively. The maximum weekly EV-D68 positivity rates were of 16.1% for children (n = 24/149; week 43) and 2.6% for adults (n = 3/115; week 42). Of 173 children with EV-D68 infection alone, the main symptoms were asthma (n = 83; 48.0%) and bronchiolitis (n = 37; 21.4%). One child developed acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) following EV-D68-associated pneumonia. Although there was no significant increase in severe respiratory tract infections reported to the French public health authorities, 10.7% (19/177) of the EV-D68 infected children and 14.3% (3/21) of the EV-D68 infected adults were hospitalised in intensive care units. Phylogenetic analysis of the viral protein 1 (VP1) sequences of 179 EV-D68 cases, revealed that 117 sequences (65.4%), including that of the case of AFP, belonged to the B2 variant of clade B viruses. Continuous surveillance of EV-D68 infections is warranted and could benefit from existing influenza-like illness and EV surveillance networks.
Influenza affects between two and three million people worldwide each year, with complications responsible for a significant number of excess hospitalizations in intensive care units (ICUs) 1. Since ...the newsworthy 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic (pdm), publications about influenza in ICUs remain scarce, with crucial outstanding issues on prognosis factors including the timing of antiviral treatments 2, 3, 4, 5. Here, we present a multicenter prospective study of critically ill influenza-infected patients aimed to identify prognosis factors associated with death.This study was conducted from December 2008 to April 2013 in the 12 polyvalent ICUs from the Lyon catchment area (France). All adult patients admitted with microbiologically confirmed influenza infection were included. Following univariate comparisons, the independent contribution of patients’ characteristics to in-hospital mortality was analyzed by backward stepwise multivariate analysis in a logistic regression model...
From January to April 2015, Réunion experienced a major outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) caused by coxsackievirus A24, which heavily impacted the healthcare system. According to ...the general practitioners' (GP) sentinel network, the number of medical consultations due to conjunctivitis during this period was estimated at ca 100,000. This report describes the characteristics of the outbreak, which were obtained through several different yet complementary surveillance systems on the island. These included the network of hospital emergency departments (OSCOUR network), the GPs' sentinel network, an Internet-based population cohort ('Koman i lé') participating in a survey on distinct symptoms including 'red eyes' and the monitoring of eye drop sales. Overall the results of the different surveillance approaches were in good agreement regarding the outbreak dynamic. A peak of patients with conjunctivitis was detected in the first 15 days of March (week 10 and 11), coinciding with increased eye drop sales on the island. Strains recovered from outbreak cases belonged to genotype IV and were most closely related to strains identified in AHC outbreaks in China, Egypt and Japan since 2010. Continued surveillance of AHC in Réunion remains important not only locally, but also because frequent exchanges between the island and mainland France may lead to introduction of this virus in Europe.
Abstract It is over 40 years since investigations showed that influenza A, one of the rare nuclear replicating RNA viruses, induces marked remodeling of the host nuclear architecture. Influenza ...modifies and/or hijacks host nuclear machinery in order to replicate, express viral proteins and interfere with host antiviral response. Numerous interactions between constitutive nuclear proteins and viral factors are now characterized but less is known concerning their functional significance and their connection with viral-induced modifications of nuclear ultrastructure. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to summarize data and hypotheses about functional interplays between host nuclear compartments and influenza A during viral replication.
•We characterize the lunar crater Lavoisier using photometric and hyperspectral data.•We found pyroclastic deposits with similar composition and different surface state.•We use laboratory data to get ...hindsight on photometric results from orbital data.•Spectroscopic results of Lavoisier pyroclastic deposits differ from earlier analyses.
We present a study of the Lavoisier lunar crater combining photometric data from the AMIE camera (SMART-1 mission) and hyperspectral data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper M3 (Chandrayaan-1 mission), with a special emphasis on the pyroclastic deposits considered to be present on the crater floor. The photometric parameters are in agreement with the general photometric behaviors of the lunar regolith, especially the backscattering properties. The assumed pyroclastic materials within Lavoisier present at first order a rather homogeneous photometric behavior, in favor of their surface state homogeneity. However, they are not significantly different from other “non-dark” patches on the crater’s floor, whereas the assumed pyroclastic deposit of Lavoisier F displays clearly different photometric parameters, indicative of distinct physical surface properties from the pyroclastic materials within Lavoisier. Using laboratory data to get hindsight on the reliability of results from orbital datasets, we show that the use of more or less depleted phase curves for photometric inversions has a clear impact on the photometric parameters that are derived. The hyperspectral analysis of Lavoisier crater shows that the various pyroclastic deposits present the same mineralogical composition, distinct from the floor of the crater and the mare basalts. M3 spectra do not differentiate between the pyroclastic deposits within Lavoisier and Lavoisier F. They have the same spectral signatures, share a similar mineralogical composition, and probably the same volcanic origin. Therefore, the differences seen in the photometric analysis from the AMIE observations are indicative of variations in grain sizes, and/or roughness, and/or particles scattering properties, and/or compaction state. The combined mineralogical and photometric analysis is a very useful approach to document the nature of the pyroclastic deposits of the Moon, and possibly of other objects of the Solar System (e.g., Mercury) as the combination of the mineralogy and the physical properties sets constraints on the origin and mode of emplacement of the deposits, and characterizes the eruption styles.
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