Authors: Valeria Falcone Sibylle Bierbaum Winfried Kern Udo Kontny Hartmut Bertz Daniela Huzly Marcus Panning
Publish Date: 2013/02/09
Volume: 158, Issue: 6, Pages: 1297-1303
Abstract
A novel influenza A virus emerged in early 2009 to cause the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century Understanding the evolution of influenza virus is crucial to determine pathogenesis vaccine efficacy and resistance to antiviral drugs In this study we investigated the molecular evolution of influenza virus AH1N1pdm09 in the 2010/11 influenza season in southern Germany by sequence analysis of the influenza virus hemagglutinin gene from 25 patients with mild moderate and severe disease Phylogenetic analysis revealed cocirculation of different genetic groups The D222G mutation which had previously been observed in severe cases was not detected Immunocompromised patients were not affected more severely than nonimmunocompromised patients p005 although longer shedding was observed in some of them Interestingly additional mutations and potential glycosylation sites were detected in samples from the lower respiratory tract in two patients but not in the corresponding upper respiratory tract specimens The H275Y mutation in the influenza virus neuraminidase gene known to confer resistance to the neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir was detected in one patientWe are grateful to Nadja Besazza for excellent technical assistance We are grateful to Dieter NeumannHaefelin and Markus Hufnagel for critical reading of the manuscript This work was partially supported by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung BMBF contract 01ES0830
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