Influenza Immunization Among Chinese Seniors: Urgent Calling For Improving Vaccination Coverage, Education, And Research

AGING MEDICINE
Volume 3, Issue 1

Li, Xin; Leng, Sean X.

Background

It is with great pleasure that we provide this commentary with a focus on influenza vaccination for an expert consensus entitled “Recommendations for influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccination in elderly people in China” to be published in this issue of Aging Medicine. Influenza is a major global public health burden with pandemic threat. Seasonal influenza infection is responsible for 3‐5 million severe illness cases and 290 000‐650 000 respiratory deaths annually worldwide.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza affects 5%‐20% of the population each year in the United States. It is estimated that influenza causes 226 000 excess hospitalizations, 25 000‐69 000 deaths, and US $87 billion excess health‐care cost with over 600 000 life‐years lost annually. Among all infectious diseases, influenza is foremost in its age‐related increase in serious complications, leading to hospitalization, catastrophic disability, and death in older adults. Moreover, influenza frequently causes exacerbation of many chronic conditions that are common in older adults, including cardiovascular diseases, further indirectly impacting senior health and mortality. In fact, over 90% of influenza‐related mortality occurs in persons aged over 65 years. In the United States, influenza and its secondary pneumonia are the fourth leading cause of death in this population. Therefore, prevention and treatment of influenza in older adults have become a major public health priority.

Keywords

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment

T-cell immunity of SARS-CoV: Implications for vaccine development against MERS-CoV

Antiviral Research
Volume 137, January 2017, Pages 82-92

William J .Liu, Min Zhao,Kefang Liu, Kun Xud, Gary Wong, Wenjie Tan, George F. Gao

Abstract

Over 12 years have elapsed since severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) triggered the first global alert for coronavirus infections. Virus transmission in humans was quickly halted by public health measures and human infections of SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) have not been observed since. However, other coronaviruses still pose a continuous threat to human health, as exemplified by the recent emergence of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in humans. The work on SARS-CoV widens our knowledge on the epidemiology, pathophysiology and immunology of coronaviruses and may shed light on MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV). It has been confirmed that T-cell immunity plays an important role in recovery from SARS-CoV infection. Herein, we summarize T-cell immunological studies of SARS-CoV and discuss the potential cross-reactivity of the SARS-CoV-specific immunity against MERS-CoV, which may provide useful recommendations for the development of broad-spectrum vaccines against coronavirus infections.

Keywords

SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, Vaccine, T-cell, Epitope, Cross-reactivity

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV): challenges in identifying its source and controlling its spread

Microbes and Infection
Volume 15, Issues 8–9, July–August 2013, Pages 625-629

Lu Lu, Qi Liu, Lanying Du, Shibo Jiang

Abstract

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a novel human coronavirus that caused outbreaks of a SARS-like illness in the Middle East, is now considered a threat to global public health. This review discusses the challenges in identifying the source of this fatal virus and developing effective and safe anti-MERS-CoV vaccines and therapeutics in order to control its spread and to combat any future pandemic.

Keywords

Coronavirus, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, Source, Vaccine, Therapeutics

Inactivated SARS-CoV vaccine elicits high titers of spike protein-specific antibodies that block receptor binding and virus entry

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Volume 325, Issue 2, 10 December 2004, Pages 445-452

Yuxian He, Yusen Zhou, Pamela Siddiqui, Shibo Jiang

Abstract

The only severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) vaccine currently being tested in clinical trial consists of inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome-associate coronavirus (SARS-CoV). However, limited information is available about host immune responses induced by the inactivated SARS vaccine. In this study, we demonstrated that SARS-CoV inactivated by β-propiolactone elicited high titers of antibodies in the immunized mice and rabbits that recognize the spike (S) protein, especially the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the S1 region. The antisera from the immunized animals efficiently bound to the RBD and blocked binding of RBD to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the functional receptor on the susceptible cells for SARS-CoV. With a sensitive and quantitative single-cycle infection assay using pseudovirus bearing the SARS-CoV S protein, we demonstrated that mouse and rabbit antisera significantly inhibited S protein-mediated virus entry with mean 50% inhibitory titers of 1:7393 and 1:2060, respectively. These data suggest that the RBD of S protein is a major neutralization determinant in the inactivated SARS vaccine which can induce potent neutralizing antibodies to block SARS-CoV entry. However, caution should be taken in using the inactivated SARS-CoV as a vaccine since it may also cause harmful immune and/or inflammatory responses.

Keywords

SARS-CoV, Vaccine, Spike protein, Receptor-binding domain, Antibodies