N-acetylcysteine lacks universal inhibitory activity against influenza A viruses

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been recently proposed as an adjuvant therapeutic drug for influenza pneumonia in humans. This proposal is based on its ability to restrict influenza virus replication in vitro and to attenuate the severity of the disease in mouse models. Although available studies were made with different viruses (human and avian), published information related to the anti-influenza spectrum of NAC is scarce. In this study, we show that NAC is unable to alter the course of a fatal influenza pneumonia caused by inoculation of a murinized swine H1N1 influenza virus. NAC was indeed able to inhibit the swine virus in vitro but far less than reported for other strains. Therefore, susceptibility of influenza viruses to NAC appears to be strain-dependent, suggesting that it cannot be considered as a universal treatment for influenza pneumonia

Application of integrated production and economic models to estimate the impact of Schmallenberg virus for various sheep production types in the UK and France

The present study aimed to estimate and compare the economic impact of Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in different sheep production holdings using partial budget and gross margin analyses in combination with production models. The sheep production types considered were lowland spring lambing, upland spring lambing and early lambing flocks in the UK, and grass lamb flocks of the Centre and West of France, extensive lambing flocks and dairy sheep flocks in France. Two disease scenarios with distinct input parameters associated with reproductive problems were considered: low and high impact. Sensitivity analyses were performed for the most uncertain input parameters, and the models were run with all of the lowest and highest values to estimate the range of disease impact

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE: A PATH WORTH EXPLORING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19?

By the end of December 2019, a new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 capable of causing pneumonia and respiratory failure emerged in Wuhan, China. The disease resulting from the virus was named COVID-19. [1,2] Despite the efforts to contain the spread of the virus, by March 2020, the WHO declared the world is facing a full-scale pandemic. TCM has been practiced for more than 5000 years and has gathered knowledge throughout the millennia in the fight against epidemic and pandemic threats. [3,4] In this study, 69 TCM entities, as well as eight formulas, were tested in vitro to observe any possible antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 using Vero E6 cells as host cells for the virus. In conclusion, four entities and a formula showed remarkable antiviral activities against SARS-CoV-2: Moutan cortex, Glycyrrhizae radix et rhizoma, Armeniacae semen amarum,Cinnamomum ramulus, and Qingfei Paidu Decoction. The Qingfei Paidu Decoction contains twenty-one herbs and not only such as: Ephedrae herba, Glycyrrhizae radix, Armeniacae semen, Gypsum fibrosum, Cinnamomi ramulus, Alismatis rhizoma, Polyporus, Atractylodis macrocephalae rhizoma, Poria, Bupleuri radix, Scutellariae radix, Pinellinae rhizoma, Zingiberis rhizoma, Asteris radix, Farfarae flos, Belamcandae rhizoma, Asari radix et rhizoma, Dioscoreae rhizoma, Aurantii rructus immaturus, Citri reticulatae pericarpium and Pogostemonis herba. These results support the idea of using TCM as an adjuvant treatment to the western ones in the fight against COVID-19 disease.3. Good health and well-bein

Biomolecular investigation for Capillaria spp. infections on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of owned domestic dogs presented for chronic cough in Belgium

peer reviewedThe trichuroid parasitic nematode Capillaria aerophila (syn. Eucoleus aerophilus) is responsible for lower respiratory infections and Capillaria boehmi (syn. Eucoleus boehmi) for sino-nasal infections in wild and domestic carnivores. Animals become infected by eating environmental embryonated eggs or earthworms. The adult worms live embedded in the epithelia of the bronchioles, bronchi, and trachea or in the nasal sinuses, respectively. Infections with C. aerophila can be sub-clinical or lead to chronic bronchial inflammation, rarely bronchopneumonia. C. boehmi may cause nasal discharge, sneezing or olfactory impairment. Knowledge about prevalence and distribution of both parasites beyond Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of C. aerophila infection in coughing, client-owned, domestic dogs in Belgium. Stored bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from 125 dogs (median age 7.3 years, range: 0.3-17.2 years) from March 2018-2022 was retrieved. All dogs had history of chronic cough (> 2 weeks duration) and underwent BALF collection for microbiologic testing of common respiratory pathogens. DNA extracted from BALF samples was stored at -80°C until further analysis. A conventional polymerase chain reaction targeting a region internal to the cox1 gene of C. aerophila, a Capillarinae consensus sequence, was performed on BALF samples in duplicate and in batch analysis using previously published primers sequences. DNA of adult C. boehmi specimens was included as a positive control. Molecular grade water was used as a negative control. Neither DNA of C. aerophila nor C. boehmi were detected in the BALF samples. Sixty-seven dogs (54%) had a recent history of deworming against lungworms with either moxidectin or fenbendazole (deworming protocol not standardized), 9 dogs (7%) were not up to date with deworming therapy, and the remaining 49 dogs (39%) had unknown deworming status. Result of this study suggest that C. aerophila infection is not prevalent in Belgium in dogs with chronic cough. This might be explained by recent deworming therapy in half of the included dogs. Epidemiosurveillance of capillarid infection may be considered in wild canids, such as foxes, to determine whether these parasites are a potential risk for domestic animals

Schmallenberg virus pathogenesis, tropism and interaction with the innate immune system of the host

Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is an emerging orthobunyavirus of ruminants associated with outbreaks of congenital malformations in aborted and stillborn animals. Since its discovery in November 2011, SBV has spread very rapidly to many European countries. Here, we developed molecular and serological tools, and an experimental in vivo model as a platform to study SBV pathogenesis, tropism and virus-host cell interactions. Using a synthetic biology approach, we developed a reverse genetics system for the rapid rescue and genetic manipulation of SBV. We showed that SBV has a wide tropism in cell culture and “synthetic” SBV replicates in vitro as efficiently as wild type virus. We developed an experimental mouse model to study SBV infection and showed that this virus replicates abundantly in neurons where it causes cerebral malacia and vacuolation of the cerebral cortex. These virus-induced acute lesions are useful in understanding the progression from vacuolation to porencephaly and extensive tissue destruction, often observed in aborted lambs and calves in naturally occurring Schmallenberg cases. Indeed, we detected high levels of SBV antigens in the neurons of the gray matter of brain and spinal cord of naturally affected lambs and calves, suggesting that muscular hypoplasia observed in SBV-infected lambs is mostly secondary to central nervous system damage. Finally, we investigated the molecular determinants of SBV virulence. Interestingly, we found a biological SBV clone that after passage in cell culture displays increased virulence in mice. We also found that a SBV deletion mutant of the non-structural NSs protein (SBVΔNSs) is less virulent in mice than wild type SBV. Attenuation of SBV virulence depends on the inability of SBVΔNSs to block IFN synthesis in virus infected cells. In conclusion, this work provides a useful experimental framework to study the biology and pathogenesis of SBV

Expression of Fibroblast Activation Protein in lungs of dogs with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and dogs with lung cancer

peer reviewedCanine Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (CIPF) is a progressive fibrotic interstitial lung disease of unknown aetiology, affecting predominantly the West Highland White Terrier (WHWT) breed. Currently, there is no curative treatment option available. Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP) is a cell surface protease usually absent from normal tissue but specifically expressed in areas of active tissue remodelling such as in fibroblast foci in human idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In humans, it is also upregulated in various types of cancers, either in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), in cancer cells or in both, depending on the tumour type. The aim of this study was to assess the expression and localization of FAP in the lungs of WHWTs affected with CIPF, in comparison with WHWTs with healthy lungs and dogs with lung cancer. Post-mortem formalin-fixed lung biopsies prepared from WHWTs with CIPF (n=17, age from 10 to 15y), control WHWTs exempt from lung disease (n=4, age from 11 to 15y) and dogs from various breeds with lung cancer (n=8, age from 8 to 14y) were retrospectively used. Included lung neoplasia were adenocarcinomas (n=6), histiocytic sarcoma (n=1) and metastasized mammary adenocarcinoma (n=1). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed using a rabbit anti-human FAP monoclonal antibody (#ab207178). An IHC staining index (absent, low, moderate or high) was attributed according to the percentage of positive cells combined with the staining intensity. FAP was identified in the lungs of 16 out of 17 (94%) WHWTs with CIPF (IHC index high, moderate, or low in respectively 10, 4 and 2 dogs), 2 out of 4 (50%) WHWTs with healthy lungs (1 of each moderate and low), and 7 out of 8 (88%) dogs with lung cancer (high and moderate in respectively 6 and 1 dogs). FAP was expressed by fibroblasts in areas of active fibrosis in CIPF and by CAFs (all types of cancer) and cancer cells (adenocarcinomas only, n=5) in lung tumours. Results of this study showed that FAP is moderately to markedly expressed by fibroblasts in most dogs affected with either CIPF or lung cancer. Accordingly, FAP should be considered as an interesting potential therapeutic target for both diseases and should encourage further studies in the future. The expression of FAP in healthy lungs of WHWTs should be further investigated, particularly in comparison with FAP expression in dogs from other breeds, as it might serve as an indicator of early fibrosis