L18 - Influenza and virology Flashcards
Influenza is an acute viral infection affecting the entire respiratory down into the lungs. What are the two major surface antigens on influenza and how do they help potentiate the viruses survival?
Hemagluttinin (H) - binds to the cells of the patietn
Neuraminidase (N) - releases the virus from the host cell surface
Which influenza strain is responsible for pandemics and why?
A - it can form reservoirs in several species. This allows it to display antigenic shift and cause pandemics.
What is the influenza strain which we vaccinate against once a year?
influenza B
Why does influenza display such high rates of antigenic shift?
Has 3 RNA polymerases which have high error rates -> thus causing a lot of mutation and variation of the virus.
What innate barriers do we have to defend against influenza?
Mucus in the respiratory tract/mucous membraneciliated cells/IgA, NK cells and macrohpages in the lung
What are some symtpoms of influenza?
Fever/headache/cough.sore throat/nasal congestion/fatigue/muscle ache
What complications are possibilities in influenza?
Pneumonia/bronchitis/pharyngitis/meningitis/encephalitis
For influenza’s B and C normally supportive treatment is just fiven however in influenza A and complicated B what treatments can we give?
Tamiflu (Neuraminidase inhibitor)/antivirals
How can influenza actually result in death?
Overreaction of T cells can destroy the lung tissue and cause death. Or opportunistic secondary infections in immunocompromised patients.
Hemagluttinin bings to a ____ ____ contianing glycoprotein which acts as a receptor for the antigen. The virus endocytoses and then neuraminidase cleaves the virus away at the ____ ___
Siacilic acid
What kind of virus is influenza?
ssRNA virus
