MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF PANDEMIC INFLUENZA

自从流感导致世界上最大的流感大流行以来，已经过去了70多年 现代史造成了大约2000万人死亡，这是一个数字 这超过了在第一次世界大战或随后的任何一次世界大战中丧生的所有人 人为或自然灾害。世界早该迎来一场新的猪流感大流行了 流行性感冒。可以做些什么来防止或控制这样的事件？今天的 技术不允许疫苗的生产和分发 规模能够做的不仅仅是钝化流感在非常 世界上几乎没有几个地区。一个更现实的方法是防止 出现一种大流行性流感病毒。 越来越多的证据表明，新的大流行使 由水生生物中病毒之间的基因重组引起的流感 鸟类和人类中的那些。也有证据表明，这种重新组合 发生在东南亚的家猪身上；可能发生在人民的 中国共和国。拟议研究的长期目标是 了解导致流行性感冒起源的流行病学事件 中国的人类流感大流行。利用在实践中学到的知识 人类存在的聚合酶基因(PBI)的当前授权期 “亚洲-1957”和“香港-1968”的流行毒株来自不同的地方 禽源，我们提出了以下具体目标：1.确定 哪些禽类宿主是人类流感基因的来源？ 大流行。2.检验猪是“混合容器”的假说 流感病毒基因。以及3.确定是否有证据表明 自然界中较早的人类流感病毒的持久性。 猪只携带禽类和/或流感病毒的流行情况 人类基因将通过基因和基因的序列分析来建立 基因产物的抗原性分析。中国的地理分布 混合基因组的流感病毒将在病毒谱系中建立 独一无二的新旧世界和大江南北的中国。的 非常重要的一点是确定流感高发的频率。 中国的风险区域与禽类和猪类的传播有关 将流感病毒基因导入人类毒株。通过更好地理解 流感的流行病学，我们或许能够特意改变 允许动物和动物之间遗传相互作用的农业实践 人类流感病毒和预防人类大流行的出现。

It is now over 70 years since influenza caused the greatest pandemic in modern history resulting in approximately 20 million fatalities, a number that exceeded all those killed in the First World War or in any subsequent man-made or natural disasters. The world is overdue for a new pandemic of influenza. What can be done to prevent or control such an event? Today's technology does not permit production and distribution of vaccine on a scale capable of doing more than blunting the impact of influenza in very few regions of the world. A more realistic approach would be to prevent the appearance of a pandemic influenza virus. There is an ever increasing body of evidence that the new pandemic strains of influenza originate by genetic reassortment between viruses in aquatic birds and those in humans. There is also evidence that this reassortment takes place in domestic pigs in Southeast Asia; probably in The People's Republic of China. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to understand the epidemiological events that result in the origin of pandemics of human influenza in China. Utilizing knowledge gained in the current granting period that the polymerase gene (PBI) present in the human pandemic strains of "Asia-1957" and "Hong Kong-1968" came from different avian sources, we propose the following specific aims: 1. To determine which avian reservoirs are the source of influenza genes in human pandemics. 2. To examine the hypothesis that pigs are the "mixing vessels" of influenza virus genes. and 3. To establish if there is evidence for persistence of earlier human influenza virus in nature. The prevalence of influenza viruses from pigs that contain avian and/or human genes will be established by sequence analysis of the genes and antigenic analysis of the gene products. The geographical distribution of influenza viruses with mixed genomes will be established in virus lineages unique to the "old' and "new' world and in the north and south of China. Of great importance will be determining how often influenza outbreaks in high risk areas of China are associated with the transmission of avian and swine influenza virus genes into human strains. By better understanding the epidemiology of influenza, we may be able to specifically alter agricultural practices which allow the genetic interaction of animal and human influenza viruses and prevent the appearance of a human pandemic.