Kelvin Kai-Wang To

Shin-Ru Shih

Ville Peltola

Frontiers in Medicine

UTUPub

EDITORIALpublished: 09 June 2020doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.00257Frontiers in Medicine | www.frontiersin.org 1 June 2020 | Volume 7 | Article 257Edited and reviewed by:Marc Jean Struelens,European Centre for DiseasePrevention and Control(ECDC), Sweden*Correspondence:Ville Peltolaville.peltola@utu.fiSpecialty section:This article was submitted toInfectious Diseases - Surveillance,Prevention and Treatment,a section of the journalFrontiers in MedicineReceived: 13 January 2020Accepted: 12 May 2020Published: 09 June 2020Citation:Peltola V, Shih S-R and To KK-W(2020) Editorial: Respiratory VirusInfection: Recent Advances.Front. Med. 7:257.doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.00257Editorial: Respiratory Virus Infection:Recent AdvancesVille Peltola 1*, Shin-Ru Shih 2 and Kelvin Kai-Wang To 31Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland,2 Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, 3Department of Microbiology, LiKa Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong KongKeywords: respiratory virus, influenza, epidemiology, pathogenesis, therapeutics, vaccinesEditorial on the Research TopicRespiratory Virus Infection: Recent AdvancesRespiratory virus infections cause an enormous disease burden both in children and in adultsin all parts of the world. Influenza A and B viruses and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) areresponsible for the highest numbers of deaths and hospitalizations but other respiratory viruses,including rhinovirus, parainfluenza viruses, adenovirus, human bocavirus and coronaviruses,are also currently known to cause severe diseases in addition to mild upper respiratory tractinfections. Furthermore, respiratory viruses of animal origin keep on emerging as novel humanpathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential. Such viruses include avian influenza virusesand the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) coronaviruses.Despite the high clinical importance of respiratory viruses, the mechanisms of pathogenicity,transmission and evolution are only partially known, and most respiratory virus infections lackeffective treatment or prevention modalities. With this Research Topic we aimed to focus onthese knowledge gaps. We sought to collect original research articles and focused reviews fromleading experts all over the world on respiratory virus epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnostics,therapeutics and vaccines. We acknowledge all authors who submitted high-quality manuscripts.We accepted nine papers including six original research articles and three reviews. Influenzaviruses are well-presented in the Topic by five papers. Two articles focus on RSV and one eachon rhinovirus and MERS coronavirus.Seasonal influenza A and B virus epidemics globally cause up to 600,000 deaths per year.Influenza A viruses have an animal reservoir in avian species, which forms the basis for a permanentthreat of pandemics. Vaccines and specific antiviral drugs against influenza are available but theyhave limitations including variable vaccine efficacies. McAuley et al. review the current knowledgeon the structure of the influenza virus neuraminidase and link the structural features of this surfaceglycoprotein with the multiple functions of neuraminidase in virus infection and fitness. Guoet al. studied the genetic changes that occur in avian influenza A H5 viruses when they infecthumans. Identification of the important steps in adaptation of these viruses to humans is neededfor evaluating the pandemic risk related to avian influenza viruses.National reporting of clinical microbiology results is an important part of surveillance forrespiratory virus epidemics. Clinical microbiology services have recently been consolidated inmany countries to a limited number of central laboratories. Van den Wijngaert et al. studied theeffects of such laboratory merging on influenza surveillance in Belgium. They report benefits ofthe integration of whole genome sequencing of influenza viruses performed in centralized clinicalmicrobiology laboratories into the public health surveillance system.Peltola et al. Editorial: Respiratory Virus Infection: Recent AdvancesNeuraminidase inhibitors are widely used for treatment(and sometimes prevention) of influenza infection, and theyhave demonstrated efficacy. However, new drugs are neededto reach better treatment results in vulnerable patient groupsparticularly in the scenario of developing antiviral resistance.Several new antiviral drugs against influenza have been developedor are under development, including polymerase inhibitors andmonoclonal antibodies. These new drugs are reviewed in thepaper by Principi et al..Vaccines are the cornerstone in protection against influenza.However, currently used influenza vaccines have limitationsand the process of production in eggs is vulnerable. Yamadaet al. report preclinical results on the efficacy of a recombinanthemagglutinin protein vaccine candidate produced in humanExpi293F cell culture. Interestingly, recombinant hemagglutininprotein of H1N1pdm09 virus protected mice not only againstH1N1pdm09 virus but also against avian H5N1 influenza virus.RSV occurs in yearly epidemics that cause high numberof severe lower respiratory tract infections in young infantsand also in the elderly. There is variation in the timing ofRSV epidemics between geographic areas. Recognition of theonset of the epidemic is important in order to accurately startadequate control measures, particularly passive immunization ofhigh-risk infants by monoclonal antibodies such as palivizumab.Yamagami et al. developed a mathematical model that was ableto detect the onset of RSV season in different parts of Japan withvarious climate conditions. Another interesting study on RSV byHong et al. focused on enhancing antiviral activity of alveolarmacrophages by administration of Bacillus subtilis spores in amouse model. Their findings may help in development of novelRSV therapeutics in the future.Rhinovirus is frequently detected in children with pneumonia,but its clinical significance remains unclear. Hartiala et al.compared rhinovirus-positive and rhinovirus-negative childrenhospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia. They foundthat the clinical picture was rather similar in both groups.Premature birth associated with rhinovirus-positive pneumonia.More research is needed on the pathogenic role of rhinovirusin pneumonia.Skariyachan et al. reviewed the pathogenesis, animal modelsand therapeutics for MERS coronavirus infections. This reviewis timely not only for the continuing identifications of humaninfections by MERS coronavirus in the Middle East but alsobecause of the potential of other novel coronaviruses tojump from animals to humans. Most recently, a novel betacoronavirus has led to an outbreak of respiratory tract infectionin Wuhan, China.We believe that the articles published in this ResearchTopic provide important new knowledge on respiratory virusinfections. They identify areas of lacking knowledge thatneed to be addressed by future research. We hope that thiscollection of articles is beneficial for the readers and advancesthe field.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSVP drafted the editorial and all authors revised it.Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in theabsence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as apotential conflict of interest.Copyright © 2020 Peltola, Shih and To. This is an open-access article distributedunder the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use,distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the originalauthor(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publicationin this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use,distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Frontiers in Medicine | www.frontiersin.org 2 June 2020 | Volume 7 | Article 257

Editorial: Respiratory Virus Infection: Recent Advances

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Editorial: Respiratory Virus Infection: Recent Advances

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