Replication of avian and seasonal influenza viruses in human bronchus and lung

BACKGROUND: Pandemics of 1957 and 1968 were believed to arise from avian influenza viruses.1 The tropism of avian and human seasonal influenza viruses for the human lower respiratory tract deserves investigation. The target cell types that support replication of avian influenza A viruses in the human respiratory tract in the early stages of clinical infection have not well defined. In a previous autopsy studies of human H5N1 disease, influenza A virus were found to infect alveolar epithelial cells2 and macrophages.3 In this study, viral infectivity and replication competence of human and high and low pathogenic avian influenza viruses were systematically investigated in the human conducting and lower respiratory tract using ex vivo organ cultures. We compared the replication kinetics of human seasonal influenza viruses (H1N1 and H3N2), low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (H9N2, H5N8) with that of the highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses isolated from human H5N1 disease …link_to_OA_fulltex

Fangia hongkongensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel gammaproteobacterium of the order Thiotrichales isolated from coastal seawater of Hong Kong

A Gram-negative, coccobacillus-shaped, aerobic bacterium, designated strain UST040201-002T, was isolated in February 2004 from seawater at the outlet of a sandfilter in Port Shelter, Hong Kong SAR, China. This strain possessed ubiquinone-8; its 16S rRNA gene sequence shared only 91 % similarity with the sequence from Caedibacter taeniospiralis and 89-90% similarity with sequences from Francisella tularensis, Francisella novicida, Francisella philomiragia and Wolbachia persica. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the strain formed a distinct clade with C. taeniospiralis. This subcluster formed a tight coherent group with members of the family Francisellaceae and W persica. Combined phylogenetic and physiological data suggest that strain UST040201-002T represents a novel genus and species within the order Thiotrichales. The name Fangia hongkongensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is UST040201-002T (=JCM 14605T=NRRL B-41860T). © 2007 IUMS.link_to_subscribed_fulltex